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IN  OLD 

PENNSYLVANIA 
TOWNS 

ANNE  HOLLINGSWORTH 
WHARTON 


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IN  OLD 

PENNSYLVANIA 
TOWNS 


By  Anne  H oiling sworih  Wharton 

A  ROSE  OF  OLD  QUEBEC.  With  eight  illus- 
trations. Decorated  cloth. 

IN  CHATEAU  LAND.  25  full-page  illustra- 
tions in  duotone.  Large  12mo.  Deco- 
rated cloth,  gilt  top. 

AN  ENGLISH  HONEYMOON.  Decorated 
title  and  17  illustrations.  Cloth,  extra. 

ITALIAN  DATS  AND  WATS.  Decorated  title 
and  8  illustrations.  12mo.  Cloth,  extra. 

ENGLISH  ANCESTRAL  HOMES  OF  NOTED 
AMERICANS.  With 29 illustrations.  Dec- 
orated cloth. 

SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  THE  EARLT  REPUBLIC. 
Profusely  illustrated.  8vo.  Buckram. 

SALONS,  COLONIAL  AND  REPUBLICAN. 
Profusely  illustrated.  8vo.  Buckram. 

HEIRLOOMS  IN  MINIATURES.  Profusely 
illustrated.  8vo.  Buckram. 

THROUGH  COLONIAL  DOORWATS.  Illus- 
trated. 12mo.  Cloth. 

COLONIAL  DATS  ANDCDAMES.  Illustrated. 
12mo.  Cloth. 

A  LAST  CENTURT  MAID.  Illustrated.  8vo. 
Cloth. 


IN  OLD 
PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

BY 
ANNE  HOLLINGSWORTH  WHARTON 

WITH  39  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

1920 


COPYRIGHT.    IQ20,   BY   J.    B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


PRINTED   BY  J.    B.   LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,   U.  S.  A. 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

KATHARINE  AUSTIN  DERBYSHIRE 

IN    WHOSE    GOOD    COMPANY    I    TOURED    TO 
SOME  OF  THESE  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 


M697321 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


So  many  citizens  of  old  Pennsylvania  towns 
have  aided  the  writer  in  her  researches  that 
their  names  would  fill  many  pages ;  she  wishes, 
however,  to  make  particular  mention  of  the  aid 
given  her  by  such  historians  of  Lancaster  as 
Miss  Martha  Bladen  Clark  and  the  Honorable 
C.  I.  Landis ;  by  Mr.  Henry  W.  Shoemaker,  that 
indefatigable  Pennsylvania  chronicler;  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Lynch  Montgomery,  State  Librarian  at 
Harrisburg;  by  Judge  and  Mrs.  Edward  W. 
Biddle  and  Miss  Emmeline  K.  Parker,  of  Car- 
lisle ;  by  the  Honorable  John  Stewart,  of  Chain- 
bersburg,  and  Mr.  George  H.  Stewart,  of  Ship- 
pensburg;  by  Miss  Anna  Valentine  and  Mrs. 
Harry  Valentine,  of  Belief onte;  by  George  E. 
Bedford,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Christopher  Wren,  of 
Wilkes-Barre;  by  Baird  Halberstadt,  Esq.,  of 
Pottsville;  by  Mr.  Oliver  Ormsby  Page  and  Mr. 
Sunnier  B.  Ely,  of  Pittsburgh ;  by  Miss  Louise 
de  Schweinitz,  of  Bethlehem;  by  General  H.  C. 
Trexler  and  Mr.  Charles  E.  Roberts,  of  Allen- 
town;  by  Mr.  John  P.  Lyons,  of  Montrose,  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  by  Governor  William 
C.  Sproul,  of  Lapidea,  near  Chester. 

The  author  also  wishes  to  make  her  acknowl- 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


edgments  to  such  officers  and  members  of  the 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  as  Dr.  John 
W.  Jordan,  Dr.  Gregory  B.  Keen,  Colonel  J. 
Granville  Leach,  the  Honorable  Hampton  L. 
Carson,  Mrs.  James  M.  Longacre,  and  Gilbert 
Cope,  whose  researches  and  publications  have 
added  much  to  the  value  of  her  work. 

For  the  use  of  photographs  of  some  beautiful 
old  homes  in  Carlisle,  the  author  extends  her 
thanks  to  the  editors  of  ' '  Carlisle  Old  and  New. ' ' 

A.  H.  W. 


CONTENTS 


i. 

INTRODUCTION 11 

II. 

EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 19 

III. 

THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 44 

IV. 

'LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 74 

V. 

GETTYSBURG  BY  WAY  OF  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 99 

VI. 

CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 119 

VII. 

A   PICTURESQUE  OLD   TOWN 143 

VIII. 

FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 169 

IX. 

WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 191 

X. 

WASHINGTON,  PENNA.,  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 212 

XI. 

FORT  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG  AND  JENNY  LIND 230 

XII. 

THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 248 

XIII. 

UP  THE  8USQUEHANNA   TO  SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE    260 

7 


CONTENTS 


XIV. 

A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 283 

XV. 

DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL  TO  POTTSVILLE  AND  READING 300 

XVI. 

ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 313 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


HOMEWOOD,    NEAR     PITTSBURGH,     ONCE     THE     HOME     OF    JUDGE 

WILLIAM  WILKINS Frontispiece 

THE  OLDEST  HOUSE  IN  DOWNINGTOWN 34 

THE  COATES-LUKENS-HUSTON  HOUSE,  COATESVILLE 38 

WINDSOR  FORGES,  CAERNARVON  TOWNSHIP 40 

HOUSE  OF  CHRISTOPHER  MARSHALL,  LANCASTER 48 

HOUSE  OF  CALEB  COPE,  LANCASTER,  WHERE  ANDRE  LODGED 52 

THE  BRETHREN'S  CHURCH  AND  PARSONAGE,  LANCASTER 54 

HOUSE  OF  EDWARD  SHIPPEN  OF  LANCASTER 54 

MINIATURES  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  JOHN  WILKES  KITTERA 76 

FROM  MINIATURES  BY  ROBERT  FULTON 

ENTRANCE  TO  MOUNT  HOPE  MANSION,  COUNTRY  HOME  OF  THE 

GRUBB  FAMILY  FOR  OVER  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS 92 

HOME  OF  ROBERT  COLEMAN  AT  ELIZABETH  FURNACE 94 

ABBEYVILLE,  OLD  HOME  OF  HON.  LANGDON  CHEVES 102 

HEMPFIELD,  WRIGHT  HOUSE,  COLUMBIA 106 

FALLING  SPRING  CHURCH,  CHAMBERSBURG 120 

THE  MCLELLAND  HOUSE,  CHAMBERSBURG 124 

DOORWAY  OF  HOUSE  OF  DAVID  WATTS,  ON  HANOVER  STREET, 

CARLISLE 156 

MANSION  OF  ISAAC  BROWN  PARKER,  HIGH  STREET,  CARLISLE. .  .  158 

HALDEMAN-CAMERON  HOUSE,  FRONT  STREET,  HARRISBURG 174 

OLD  HOUSE  OF  HON.  WILLIAM  MACLAY,  FRONT  STREET,  HARRISBURQ  176 

FORMER  HOME  OF  BENJAMIN  PAGE,  ALLEGHENY 200 

FRIENDSHIP  HILL,  FORMER  HOME  OF  HON.  ALBERT  GALLATIN, 

NEAR  UNIONTOWN 222 

BEN  LOMOND,  BUILT  1785  BY  HENRY  BEESON,  FOUNDER  OF 

UNIONTOWN 222 

THE  SEARIGHT  HOUSE,  BUILT  BY  JOSIAH  FBOST,  PRIOR  TO  1821 ..  224 

9 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


CROCKFORD,    BACHELORS*   QUARTERS,    BEDFORD   SPRINGS 236 

BURNHAM,  BUILT   IN    1811,  ENLARGED    BY  REUBEN  BOND   VALEN- 
TINE  IN    1857 250 

THE    LINN    HOUSE,    BUILT    IN    1810,    STILL    RESIDENCE    OF    LINN 

FAMILY 250 

DONNEL  HOUSE  ON  MARKET  SQUARE,  8UNBURY,  OCCUPIED  BY 

DONNEL  FAMILY  OVER  120  YEARS 260 

FORMER  HOME  OF  REV.  JOSEPH  PRIESTLY,  NORTHUMBERLAND.  .  .  .  264 
THE  PICKERING-ROSS  HOUSE,  SOUTH  MAIN  STREET,  WILKES-BARRE  278 

HOME  OF  COLONEL  ZEBULON  BUTLER,  WILKES-BARRK 278 

THE  MULFORD-LYONS  HOUSE,  MONTROSE 292 

TROUT  HALL,  ALLENTOWN,  BUILT  BY  JAMES  ALLEN,  IN  1770 310 

SCHNITZ  HOUSE,  BETHLEHEM,  NOW  HEADQUARTERS  OF  RED  CROSS  318 
"BELL  HOUSE"  BUILT  IN  1746,  NOW  SINGLE  SISTERS  HOUSE, 
BETHLEHEM 322 

EASTER  MORNING  IN  BETHLEHEM  GRAVEYARD 322 

THE  LLOYD  HOUSE,  CHESTER,  PA 334 

LAPIDEA  COTTAGE,  BUILT  1727,  NOW  ON  ESTATE  OF  GOVERNOR 

WILLIAM  C.  SPROUL 334 

COURT  HOUSE,  CHESTER,  BUILT  1724,  RESTORED  1920 340 


IN  OLD 
PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 


I 
INTRODUCTION 


FROM  the  days  of  Oliver  Goldsmith  and 
Mary  Eussell  Mitford  to  our  own  time,  the  vil- 
lage and  small  town  have  held  a  lure  for  poet, 
romance  writer  and  chronicler. 

" There  is,"  says  Miss  Julia  Patton,  who 
writes  with  enthusiasm  of  the  English  village, 
"something  close,  intimate  and  endearing  in  the 
village  idea";  and  Mrs.  Edward  C.  Clarke  gives 
a  charming  picture  of  village  life  in  America  in 
the  chronicles  of  her  girlhood's  home  in  Canan- 
daigua,  New  York. 

Few  among  us,  even  the  most  inveterate 
Cockney,  can  remain  long  insensible  to  the  charm 
of  an  English  village,  to  which  the  passing  cen- 
turies have  added  a  grace  that  only  time  can  be- 
stow, and  some  of  our  old  American  villages 
and  towns,  especially  those  which  have  been 
remote  from  the  broad  highways  of  travel,  still 
possess  much  of  the  fascination  of  the  English 
village.  On  this  side  of  the  water,  however,  vil- 

11 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

lages  and  small  towns  have  a  fashion  of  growing 
into  large  towns  and  great  cities ;  yet,  in  many  of 
them,  when  we  get  away  from  main  thorough- 
fares and  central  squares,  with  their  trolleys, 
noisy  activities  and  bustle,  we  still  find  quiet 
streets,  "soft  embowered  in  trees, "  and  old 
houses  with  the  lovely  porticoes  and  doorways 
that  belonged  to  the  village  of  the  past. 

Many  of  the  old  Pennsylvania  towns  treated 
of  in  this  book  may  no  longer  be  spoken  of  as 
towns,  as  they  have  outgrown  such  limits  and 
become  large  and  prosperous  cities,  as  Chester, 
Lancaster,  Beading,  Harrisburg  and  Wilkes- 
Barre.  But  most  of  these,  despite  their  size  and 
importance,  retain  something  of  their  village 
charm.  In  Bethlehem,  with  all  its  business  ac- 
tivity and  prosperity,  the  old  Moravian  settle- 
ment still  holds  the  stage,  its  picturesque 
buildings  being  in  the  center  of  the  town,  and 
when  there  is  a  Bach  festival  it  is  to  this  older 
section  that  the  visitor  turns  his  footsteps.  In 
Belief  onte,  we  leave  a  wide  street,  full  of  hand- 
some, modern  residences,  climb  a  steep  hillside, 
and  are  in  the  old  town,  where  an  early  Valen- 
tine settler  built  a  Friends'  Meeting  House, 
which  with  its  moss-grown  roof,  its  stones  tinted 
by  the  fingers  of  time  into  indescribably  lovely 
shades,  is  as  picturesque  on  its  hilltop  as  is  Jor- 
dan's  Meeting  in  its  fair  English  valley. 

Now  that  good  roads  in  many  parts  of  Penn- 
12 


INTRODUCTION 


sylvania  and  broad  highways,  the  William  Penn, 
the  Lincoln  and  the  National  Highway,  offer 
facilities  for  reaching  our  old  towns,  some  in- 
teresting associations  belonging  to  their  history, 
early  and  late,  may  be  of  interest  to  the  tourist. 
To  gather  together  some  record  of  these  associa- 
tions, while  those  still  living  are  able  to  recall 
stories,  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  of  the 
days  when  many  of  these  towns  were  frontier 
forts,  has  been  the  object  of  the  writer,  as  well 
as  to  record  the  recollections  of  later  and  event- 
ful days  just  before  and  soon  after  the  Civil 
War,  while  older  citizens  recall  President 
Buchanan  when  he  was  living  at  Wheatland, 
near  Lancaster;  or  tell  you  of  President  Lin- 
coln's visits  to  Lancaster  and  Harrisburg  in 
February,  1861 ;  or  describe  the  handsome  face 
and  figure  of  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  as  he  walked 
through  the  streets  of  Belief onte,  before  he  be- 
came the  noted  War  Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 
Such  recollections  as  these,  from  eye  witnesses, 
bridge  over  the  years  and  bring  back  to  us  the 
events  of  the  past  with  a  fresh  and  vivid  interest. 
In  presenting  to  her  readers  the  stories  of 
some  old  Pennsylvania  towns,  the  writer  wishes 
it  to  be  understood  that  many,  both  old  and 
interesting,  have  not  been  given  a  place  in  this 
book  simply  on  account  of  the  limitations  of  time 
and  space.  A  comprehensive  review  of  the  his- 
toric towns  of  a  state  in  which  so  much  history 

13 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

has  been  made  would  fill  many  volumes  and 
would  require  the  research  of  a  lifetime.  Only 
those  known  to  the  writer,  which  have  left  their 
impress  upon  her  mind,  have  been  included  in 
these  pages. 

Philadelphia  and  Germantown  have  been 
treated  of  by  so  many  able  writers  that  they  have 
been  purposely  omitted  in  the  preparation  of 
this  book. 

We  know  our  Southern  and  New  England 
towns  and  the  charm  of  them ;  we  love  them  as 
a  valued  share  in  the  life  of  a  great  nation;  it 
has  been  the  good  fortune  of  many  of  these  to  be, 

Sung  in  song,  rehearsed  in  story. 

For  some  reason  the  history  and  romances  of 
our  old  Pennsylvania  towns  have  not,  to  any 
considerable  extent,  occupied  a  place  in  general 
literature,  with  the  exception,  of  course,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  yet  no  state  is  richer  in  his- 
toric associations  than  the  old  Keystone. 

The  ignorance  of  otherwise  intelligent  per- 
sons with  regard  to  the  past  events  and  present 
attainments  of  Pennsylvania  has  of  late  years 
been  impressed  upon  the  writer.  As,  for  in- 
stance, in  talking  to  an  ordinarily  intelligent  and 
traveled  young  person  from  Boston,  when  some 
pictures  were  shown  her  of  Colonial  houses  still 
standing  in  some  of  the  southern  Pennsylvania 
towns,  she  said,  " Dutch  Colonial,  I  suppose." 


INTRODUCTION 


"No,  English  Colonial, "  was  the  answer. 

"Oh!  I  supposed  Pennsylvania  was  settled 
entirely  by  Dutch. " 

"Where  do  you  think  all  of  our  English, 
Scotch  and  French  names  came  from?"  was  the 
rejoinder.  "In  point  of  fact,  Pennsylvania  had 
a  greater  diversity  of  nationality  in  her  early 
settlement  than  any  other  state  in  the  Union. " 

Even  more  surprising  are  some  remarks  re- 
corded in  a  rather  recent  publication  called  "A 
Hoosier  Holiday, ' '  in  which  two  persons  touring 
through  Pennsylvania  remark  upon  the  small- 
ness  and  insignificance  of  the  population. 

The  census  reports,  of  course,  give  the  most 
convincing  facts  with  regard  to  population,  so 
there  is  no  need  to  answer  this  criticism.  The 
author,  Mr.  Theodore  Dreisler,  continues  in 
somewhat  the  same  vein:  "But  what  about 
Pennsylvania  anyhow  ?  Why  hasn  't  it  produced 
anything  in  particular?  .  .  .  For  now  that 
we  had  come  to  think  of  it  we  could  not  recall 
anyone  in  American  political  history  or  art  or 
science  who  had  come  from  Pennsylvania.  Wil- 
liam Penn  (a  foreigner)  occurred  to  me,  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  and  a  certain  Civil  War  gov- 
ernor of  the  name  of  Cameron,  and  there 
I  stuck." 

Mr.  Dreisler  remembers  Benjamin  Franklin, 
to  be  sure;  but  of  "the  Civil  War  governor 
by  the  name  of  Cameron"  we  must  confess  ig- 
norance. He  certainly  could  not  confuse  any 

2  15 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

other  name  with  that  of  Governor  Curtin;  or, 
with  that  of  Cameron,  represented  by  the  two 
Senators,  father  and  son,  which  is  equally 
well  known. 

It  seems  strange  that  Mr.  Dreisler  did  not 
happen  to  remember  Eobert  Morris,  who 
financed  the  Revolution;  or  Stephen  Girard, 
who  did  more  than  any  one  man  to  finance  the 
War  of  1812. 

"But  where  are thepoets,writers, painters?" 
asked  Mr.  Dreisler 's  traveling  companion. 

' i  I  paused.  Not  a  name  occurred  to  me. ' ' 

Had  he  never  heard  of  a  certain  Penn- 
sylvania Quaker  painter,  Benjamin  West,  who 
was  president  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  London 
for  many  years,  whose  paintings  were  so  highly 
valued  that  the  King  of  England  refused  to 
have  them  leave  the  country  unless  replicas 
were  furnished  by  the  artist?  Jacob  Eicholtz, 
of  Lancaster,  was  an  artist  of  considerable  note, 
as  were  William  T.  Richards  and  a  host  of  others, 
including  John  W.Alexander,  of  Pittsburgh ;  and 
as  to  science,  the  Ho  osier  tourists  must,  at  the 
time,  have  been  passing  quite  near  the  birthplace 
of  one  of  the  greatest  scientists  and  inventors 
that  America  has  produced.  A  few  miles  south  of 
Lancaster  Eobert  Fulton  was  born,  who  in- 
vented the  first  working  submarine  and  the  first 
steamboat  that  made  a  successful  trip.  Indeed, 
William  Henry,  of  Lancaster,  and  John  Fitch 

16 


INTRODUCTION 


both  worked  on  the  steamboat  with  considerable 
success  about  the  same  time ;  and  another  scien- 
tist, too  important  to  be  overlooked,  was 
America's  greatest  astronomer,  David  Rit- 
tenhouse,  a  Pennsylvanian;  and  by  far  its 
most  celebrated  early  botanist  was  John  Bar- 
tram,  another  Pennsylvanian. 

As  to  Pennsylvania  writers,  they  rise  up 
like  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  early  and  late,  too 
many  to  speak  of;  but  we  cannot  refrain  from 
mentioning  such  well-known  authors  as  Dr. 
S.  Weir  Mitchell,  whose  works  have  been  so 
widely  read,  the  two  distinguished  Shakespear- 
ean scholars,  Dr.  Horace  Howard  Furness  and 
his  son,  and  to  go  further  back  in  the  years,  this 
State  may  claim  the  honor  of  being  the  home  of 
the  first  American  playwright,  Thomas  Godfrey, 
and  the  first  American  novelist,  Charles 
Brockden  Brown.  Then  Bayard  Taylor  has 
done  much  and  well  in  poetry  and  fiction  and 
George  H.  Boker's  poems  and  plays  are  receiv- 
ing more  and  fuller  recognition  as  the  years  go 
on;  while  Margaret  Deland,  one  of  our  leading 
novelists,  it  should  not  be  forgotten,  was  born 
and  spent  her  early  years  in  Allegheny, 
Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Dreisler  may  well  ask  "What  about 
Pennsylvania  anyhow  1"  The  trouble  seems  to 
be  that  this  state  does  not  sufficiently  appre- 
ciate and  make  much  of  the  work  being  done 

17 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

within  her  own  borders,  and  for  that  reason 
it  is  not  recognized  by  those  outside  of  it.  This 
is  the  more  remarkable  because  no  state  has 
been  endowed  with  more  painstaking  and  effi- 
cient chroniclers.  To  such  local  historians  of 
the  past  as  the  late  John  Blair  Linn,  Esq.,  of 
Belief onte;  James  Pyle  Wickersham,  LL.D., 
and  the  Honorable  W.  U.  Hensel,  of  Lancaster ; 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Himes,  of  Carlisle;  Dr.  Alfred 
Nevin,  the  Reverend  Horace  E.  Hayden,  of 
Wilkes-Barre;  Dr.  W.  H.  Egle,  of  Harrisburg; 
Governor  Samuel  W.  Pennypacker,  and  Dr.  F.  D. 
Stone,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Evans, 
of  Columbia,  the  Pennsylvania  historian  of  the 
future  will  owe  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude. 


II 

EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


To  visit  some  of  the  old  historic  towns  of 
Pennsylvania  had  been  a  cherished  plan  of  mine 
for  several  years,  and  this  year  of  grace  1917, 
and  of  war  also,  alas ! — fortune  seemed  to  favor 
my  desires.  Kathleen  Davis,  who  is  a  young 
widow  and  consequently  quite  free  to  follow  her 
own  sweet  will,  came  to  me  one  morning  to  dis- 
cuss her  summer  plans.  July  and  August,  she 
said,  were  filled  with  engagements  in  various 
directions,  but  a  part  of  June  was  not  provided 
for.  Here  was  my  opportunity,  Kathleen  being 
the  fortunate  possessor  of  a  Eolls-Eoyce  and 
of  an  exceptionally  good  chauffeur,  so  I  modestly 
suggested  a  tour  to  some  old  Pennsylvania  towns. 

"That  sounds  attractive,"  said  Kathleen. 
"I  know  ever  so  many  New  England  towns,  of 
course,  and  love  them,  and  some  of  the  Southern 
towns,  like  beautiful  old  Williamsburg  and 
Charleston  and  Savannah;  but  I  must  confess 
that  I  don't  know  any  of  the  towns  in  my  own 
state.  I  fancy  they  are  all  very  much  alike. ' ' 

1  '  That  is  just  where  you  are  mistaken, ' '  said 
I  in  as  severe  a  tone  as  it  was  possible  to  use 
in  speaking  to  any  one  as  charming  as  Kath- 
leen. "On  the  contrary,  they  are  quite  indi- 

19 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

vidual  in  their  characteristics;  Lancaster  and 
Belief  onte  differ  as  widely  as  Salem  and  Stock- 
bridge,  and  then  Washington,  Bethlehem  and 
Wilkes-Barre  are  again  quite  different  types. " 

"That  sounds  still  more  attractive.  Let  me 
go  with  you,  Serena,  and  try  to  complete  my  im- 
perfect education;  and  let  us  ask  your  friend, 
Sarah  Bruce,  to  bear  us  company,  and  give  us 
the  history  of  every  town  as  we  pass  through  it. 
I  am  sure  that  Wright  will  enjoy  this  tour  also, 
as  he  came  from  one  of  the  old  Pennsylvania 
towns,  Chambersburg;  or  perhaps  it  is  Carlisle. 
I  do  hope  that  he  may  not  be  called  to  the  colors 
before  we  finish  our  tour." 

Kathleen  is  a  very  patriotic  woman  and  had 
accomplished  an  almost  incredible  amount  of 
war  work  during  the  spring;  but  when  the  ques- 
tion of  relinquishing  her  invaluable  chauffeur  to 
the  Government  was  mooted,  her  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  failed  to  rise  to  the  occasion. 

A  few  days  before  starting  on  our  tour  of 
discovery  I  became  the  happy  possessor  of  a 
little  book  with  the  alliterative  title  of  "A  Pleas- 
ant Peregrination  Through  the  Prettiest  Parts 
of  Pennsylvania, ' '  in  which  the  writer,  one  Pere- 
grine Prolix,  described  a  journey  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Pittsburgh  in  1836,  the  first  lap  of 
the  trip  being  over  the  recently-constructed 
Columbia  Railroad.  We  were  much  interested 
in  contrasting  the  journey  of  Mr.  Prolix  with 
our  own  projected  trip. 

20 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


After  a  tour  through  Philadelphia  in  an  ac- 
commodating omnibus  which  picked  up  men, 
women  and  children  at  Eleventh  and  George 
Streets,  Arch  and  Ninth  Streets  and  at  other 
places,  all  were  transferred  to  a  railroad  car, 
that  started  from  the  depot  on  Broad  Street, 
which  was  drawn  by  four  fine  horses.  This  car 
conveyed  the  passengers  to  the  inclined  plane 
on  the  western  bank  of  the  Schuylkill  which  was 
approached  by  a  spacious  viaduct.  * l  At  the  foot 
of  the  inclined  plane  the  horses  were  loosed 
from  the  cars,  several  of  which  were  tied  to  an 
endless  rope,  moved  by  a  steam  engine  placed 
on  top  of  the  plane,  and  finally  began  to  mount 
the  acclivity  with  the  speed  of  five  miles  an 
hour.  .  .  .  when  the  cars  had  all  arrived  at 
the  top  of  the  plane,  some  twelve  or  fourteen 
were  strung  together  like  beads,  and  fastened 
to  the  latter  end  of  a  steam  tug.  .  .  .  The  in- 
clined plane  is  more  than  nine  hundred  yards  in 
length  and  has  a  perpendicular  rise  of  about 
one  hundred  and  seventy  feet. ' ' * 

"We  left  the  inclined  plane  at  ten  o'clock," 
said  Mr.  Prolix,  "and  were  scheduled  to  reach 
Lancaster  the  same  afternoon."  This  novel 
conveyance  appears  to  have  made  good  speed, 
as  Mr.  Prolix  recorded  that  they  reached  Lan- 
caster at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a  great 
improvement  upon  the  journey  described  by  an- 

1  Prolix's  Pleasant  Peregrinations. 
21 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

other  annalist,  which  involved  a  stop  overnight 
at  an  inn,  far  from  luxurious,  where  bed  linen 
being  scarce,  a  table-cloth  was  given  one  of  the 
party  in  lieu  of  a  sheet. 

We  set  forth  upon  our  tour  of  discovery  in 
Pennsylvania  in  the  sort  of  car  that  was  only 
dreamed  of  in  the  days  of  Mr.  Prolix,  by  Oliver 
Evans,  of  Philadelphia,  and  a  few  others  of  his 
ilk,  who  projected  their  minds  into  the  future 
and  had  visions  of  journeys  in  what  were  spoken 
of  as  horseless  carriages.  Our  point  of  de- 
parture was  from  a  portion  of  Philadelphia 
given  over,  in  1836,  to  Schuylkill  Rangers,  goats 
and  stray  cows.  From  this  now  closely-built-up 
part  of  the  city  we  made  our  way  by  Twenty- 
first  Street  to  the  Parkway,  still  incomplete  but 
promising  great  beauty  and  utility,  and  on 
through  the  Green  Street  entrance  to  the  most 
extensive  and  beautiful  park  in  the  world.  By 
the  boathouses  on  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill 
and  by  the  winding  ways  of  the  East  Park  we 
sped  along,  having  on  our  left  the  old  Mt. 
Pleasant  Mansion,  spoken  of  usually  as  the 
Benedict  Arnold  house,  but  known  further  back 
in  history  by  the  more  popular  name  of  the 
McPherson  mansion,  having  been  built  by  one 
John  McPherson,  a  Scotchman  of  the  clan  of 
the  McPhersons  of  Clunie.  This  house,  some- 
what modernized,  is  now  used  by  an  automobile 
club.  We  passed  by  many  interesting  old  man- 

22 


EN  EOUTEITO  LANCASTER 


sions — Solitude,  the  home  of  John  Penn  and  the 
last  bit  of  property  owned  by  the  Penn  family 
in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  where  they  had 
held  such  vast  estates.  Our  way  led  us  by  Bel- 
mont,  the  hospitable  home  of  the  witty  Judge 
Peters,  where  General  Washington  was  so  often 
a  guest,  and  by  Sweetbriar,  once  the  home  of  the 
delightful  annalist,  Mr.  Samuel  Breck.  Motor- 
ing by  these  old  houses,  that  are  now  the  prop- 
erty of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  we  rejoiced  in 
the  thought  that  they  will  ever  stand  as  historic 
landmarks  linking  the  coming  generations  with 
the  storied  past,  with  the  days  when  Washing- 
ton, Jefferson,  Adams  and  Lafayette  drove  out 
here,  by  practically  the  same  roads  that  are  used 
today,  to  dine  and  sup  in  these  old  mansions. 

We  crossed  the  Schuylkill  at  the  Falls  bridge, 
and  by  devious  ways  reached  the  Montgomery 
Pike  and  the  General  Wayne  Inn,  a  famous 
hostelry  in  stage-coaching  days,  offering,  as 
it  did,  refreshment  for  man  and  beast,  in 
the  first  stage  of  the  journey  from  Philadelphia 
to  Lancaster. 

As  late  as  the  last  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  General  Wayne  was  a  favor- 
ite summer  resort  for  Philadelphians,  the  days 
of  its  greatest  glory  being  those  when  Miss 
Emily  Schomberg  and  her  mother  spent 
some  weeks  of  the  summer  at  the  hotel. 
The  celebrated  Philadelphia  beauty  brought 

23 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

to  this  old  inn  certain  foreign  fashions, 
as  she  always  had  her  breakfast  in  her  rooms 
and  never  appeared  in  the  drawing-room 
until  later  in  the  day,  beautifully  gowned  and 
wearing  an  extremely  becoming  hat  which 
crowned  rather  than  concealed  her  luxuriant 
dark  hair.  Here  Miss  Schomberg  held  some- 
thing of  a  court,  as  many  persons  in  the  neigh- 
borhood came  to  call  upon  her,  all  of  whom  she 
received  with  a  certain  charm  and  graciousness 
for  which  she  was  noted  as  much  as  for  her 
great  beauty.  In  the  evening  she  would  often 
give  the  guests  of  the  old  inn  the  pleasure  of 
hearing*  her  fine,  well-trained  voice,  while  a 

Count  d'E ,  who  came  from  Philadelphia 

every  afternoon  to  call  upon  Miss  Schomberg, 
would  turn  the  sheets  of  her  music.  The  picture 
of  the  Philadelphia  beauty  at  the  piano,  charm- 
ing the  guests  of  the  General  Wayne,  while 
waiting  maids  and  stable  boys  stood  outside  by 
the  open  windows  listening  to  songs  from  Italy, 
England,  Germany  and  France,  seems  to  belong 
to  another  world  than  ours,  in  view  of  the  popu- 
larity of  the  pianola,  the  victrola  and  all  of  the 
other  devices  that  have  been  introduced  to  take 
the  place  of  the  human  voice  since  those  good 
old  days  in  the  seventies  when  Miss  Schomberg 
sang  her  songs  to  a  most  appreciative  audience 
at  the  old  hostelry. 

Within   a    short   distance    of   the    General 

24 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


Wayne  Inn  is  the  Merion  Meeting  House,  and  a 
few  miles  farther  on  our  way  we  came  upon  an- 
other historic  landmark,  known  as  the  Owen 
Jones  house,  although  built  by  Robert  Owen,  of 
Merionethshire,  Wales,  in  1695,  as  appears  from 
the  date  carved  on  the  cornerstone.  This  house, 
once  surrounded  by  over  four  hundred  acres,  is 
still  in  good  preservation  and  has  become  an 
attractive  roadside  tea-house. 

Between  Haverford  and  Bryn  Mawr  we 
passed  the  Buck  Tavern,  built  in  1730.  This  old 
hostelry  was  particularly  interesting  to  Kath- 
leen, as  she  remembered  that  her  grandfather 
had  told  her  that  he  and  his  family,  when  jour- 
neying to  Bedford  Springs  in  their  coach,  al- 
ways stopped  at  the  Buck  Tavern  for  breakfast, 
with  appetites  sharpened  by  a  nine-mile  drive. 
And  then,  to  go  still  further  back  in  history, 
the  main  body  of  Washington's  army  was  en- 
camped near  here.  In  a  letter  to  Congress, 
under  date  of  September  15,  1777,  the  Gen- 
eral wrote: 

At  the  Buek  Tavern, 
Three  o'clock,  P.M. 

We  are  moving  up  this  road  [the  old  Lancaster  Road] 
to  get  between  the  enemy  and  Swede's  Ford,  and  to  prevent 
them  from  turning  our  right  flank." 

All  the  country  through  which  we  were  pass- 
ing is  filled  with  associations  of  Eevolution- 
ary  days,  especially  of  those  weeks  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1777,  when  the  two  generals,  Washing- 

25 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

ton  and  Howe,  were  playing  their  spirited  game 
of  hide-and-seek  north  and  west  of  Philadelphia, 
within  an  area  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles. 

After  leaving  the  Buck  Tavern  we  passed  by 
the  lovely  grounds  and  fine  buildings  of  Haver- 
ford  College;  by  White  Hall,  once  famous  for 
its  summer  gayeties,  its  dances  and  amateur 
theatricals,  as  Mr.  John  W.  Towns  end  has  re- 
called to  us  so  vividly  in  his  interesting  story  of 
the  "Main  Line";  by  Bryn  Mawr  College,  with 
its  wonderful  gates  and  its  beautiful  campus, 
and  so  on  to  St.  Davids,  through  a  fine  stretch 
of  rolling,  intensively-cultivated  country. 

Every  road  in  this  region  passes  over  his- 
toric ground ;  every  path  has  its  legend ;  nearly 
every  house  its  own  traditions.  We  should  need 
weeks  instead  of  hours  in  which  to  enjoy  it  all, 
as  Sarah  reminded  us;  but  we  could  not  pass 
this  way  without  stopping  at  the  beautiful  old 
church  of  St.  Davids,  often  as  we  had  seen  it. 
This  is  the  most  perfect  example  of  a  Colonial 
country  church,  dignified  and  yet  simple  in  its 
lines,  as  every  rural  church  should  be.  It  is  not 
strange  that  this  ancient  sanctuary,  with  its 
stone  walls  draped  with  ivy  and  its  beautiful 
church  yard,  shaded  by  great  trees,  should  have 
impressed  one  of  our  distinguished  American 
poets.  Simplicity  and  dignity  are  harmoniously 
united  in  this  historic  building  dedicated  to  the 
patron  saint  of  Wales,  settlers  from  which 

26 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


country  built  the  church  here  in  1715,  the  curious 
outside  stairway  having  been  added  much  later. 

North  of  Stratford  Station  we  found  the 
quaint  little  Eagle  School  House,  which,  through 
the  interest  and  public  spirit  of  some  citizens 
of  Kadnor  Township,  notably  Mr.  Henry  Pleas- 
ant, Jr.,  has  been  restored  and  opened  for  a 
public  library  and  reading-room.  In  the  grounds 
a  number  of  Revolutionary  soldiers  were  buried, 
and  after  sleeping  for  over  a  hundred  years  in 
an  unmarked  grave,  a  tablet  with  a  beautiful 
and  appropriate  inscription  has  been  placed 
over  their  last  resting-place. 

Near  Devon,  where  the  Sugartown  road  in- 
tersects the  old  Church  road,  we  noticed  a  hand- 
some house  with  a  beautiful  lawn  sloping  gently 
down  to  a  pond.  The  beauty  of  the  place  and 
Tarleton,  the  name  on  the  gate-post,  interested 
us,  and  we  turned  to  our  ever-helpful  Antiquary, 
who,  as  usual,  was  able  to  meet  our  demand. 

"This  house,"  she  said,  "was  a  farm  house 
in  Colonial  days,  the  hill  on  which  it  stands  being 
an  important  outpost  of  the  patriot  army  dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1778,  when  the  main  body  of 
Washington's  army  was  at  Valley  Forge. 
Young  Harry  Lee  was  posted  at  the  farm  house, 
which  then  stood  here,  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
flecting supplies  intended  for  the  British  army 
in  Philadelphia.  Lee's  command  consisted  of 
fourteen  men  detailed  from  Colonel  Theodoric 

27 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Eland's  Virginia  regiment.  General  Howe, 
having  learned  from  Tory  spies  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  isolated  position  of  this  farm  house, 
and  being  in  need  of  supplies  from  the  rich 
country  surrounding  it,  detached  two  hundred 
troopers  under  Tarleton  to  make  a  detour  of 
Philadelphia  and  surprise  Lee.  The  young 
officer  and  the  men  under  him  made  so  gallant 
a  resistance  against  overwhelming  numbers, 
that  they  finally  succeeded  in  holding  the  fort. 
After  this  engagement  the  Commander-ini  Chief 
wrote  Lee  a  personal  letter  commending  him  and 
his  command  for  their  i  gallant  behaviour, '  and 
with  the  approval  of  Congress  advanced  him  to 
the  rank  of  major  with  a  command  of  two  troops 
of  horse,  in  addition  to  which  he  recommended 
the  men  under  him  for  promotion.  This  was 
one  of  the  many  engagements  in  which  Lee, 
afterwards  known  as  '  Lighthorse  Harry,'  dis- 
tinguished himself  and  won  the  commendation 
of  General  Washington,  with  whom  he  was  a 
great  favorite. ' ' 

The  present  owners  of  the  property,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  George  C.  Stout,  although  they  have 
greatly  enlarged  the  house  and  beautified  the 
grounds,  have  retained  the  old  name,  Tarleton. 
Lee  would  be  more  appropriate,  as  it  was  Light- 
horse  Harry  who  conferred  distinction  upon  the 
place ;  but  old  names  cling  to  certain  localities, 
and  it  is  usually  a  mistake  to  change  them. 

28 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


Near  Paoli  we  turned  from  the  pike  to  have 
a  look  at  Waynesborough,  the  birthplace  of 
General  Anthony  Wayne,  a  fine  stone  house  in 
good  preservation,  where  we  had  often  been  re- 
ceived by  the  late  General  and  Mrs.  William 
Wayne,  and  sat  upon  the  self-same,  high-backed 
horsehair  sofa  upon  which  General  Anthony 
Wayne,  Lafayette  and  many  Revolutionary 
heroes  had  sat.  The  old  house  is  kept  much  as  it 
was  in  the  days  of  General  Wayne,  and  as  it 
stands  to-day  with  its  substantial  walls,  shaded 
by  great  trees,  it  is  a  picturesque  landmark  of 
historic  value  that  should  be  preserved  for  all 
time.  General  Anthony  Wayne  is  buried  in  the 
beautiful  grounds  of  St.  David's  Church.  He 
died  at  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  whither  he  had  gone 
to  take  possession  of  certain  posts  for  the 
United  States  at  Majora,  Oswego,  Miami  and 
Delevit,  which  were  surrendered  by  the  English. 
While  at  Erie  the  General  became  seriously  ill, 
died  December,  1796,  and  was  buried,  according 
to  his  wish,  on  Garrison  Hill,  north  of  the  pres- 
ent Soldiers'  Home.  In  1809  Colonel  Isaac 
Wayne  had  his  father's  remains  removed  and 
placed  in  the  family  burial  ground  at  St.  David's 
Church,  Radnor.  This  region  is  filled  with  asso- 
ciations of  General  Wayne,  but  we  were  glad  to 
have  the  discrepancy  between  the  date  of  his* 
death  and  that  of  his  burial  at  St.  David's 
Church  explained  by  Sarah,  who  well  deserves 

29 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

the  title  of  Antiquary  which  we  have  bestowed 
upon  her. 

On  the  right-hand  side  of  the  pike,  near 
Paoli,  a  tavern  stands,  once  the  General  Jack- 
son, now  the  Franklin.  The  old  Paoli  Inn  was 
long  since  destroyed  by  fire,  and  no  new  build- 
ing has  taken  its  place.  The  name  Paoli  has 
often  puzzled  us ;  but  here  again  our  Antiquary 
was  able  to  answer  our  question.  The  Paoli,  she 
said,  was  named  after  Pachal  Paoli,  a  Corsican 
patriot,  who  at  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the 
inn  was  living  in  exile  in  England  and,  although 
unsuccessful,  was  looked  upon  as  the  ideal 
patriot  and  champion  of  liberty.  Paoli 's  efforts 
for  the  freedom  of  Corsica  were  frustrated  by 
the  purchase  of  the  island  from  the  Genoese  by 
France,  and  General  Paoli,  after  an  heroic 
struggle,  became  an  exile. 

"That  is  all  very  interesting, "  I  said,  "but 
why  was  the  inn  named  after  General  Paoli  ?" 

"No  one  knows  exactly  why,"  said  the  Anti- 
quary, who  usually  had  a  reason  for  everything, 
"except  that  liberty  was  in  the  air  just  then, 
and  some  enthusiast  had  been  reading  about 
General  Paoli. ' ' 

After  passing  Paoli  and  climbing  the  steep 
hills  between  that  station  and  Green  Tree,  a  fine 
view  of  the  beautiful  Chester  Valley,  with  the 
hills  near  Valley  Forge  in  the  distance,  opened 
before  us.  Old  Green  Tree  Inn,  a  familiar 

30 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


landmark  for  many  years,  was  destroyed  when 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  straightened  its 
roadbed  in  1877,  the  new  line  running  directly 
through  the  inn.  At  Malvern  we  were  reminded 
that  the  first  railroad  car  on  the  new  road  to 
the  West  Chester  Intersection  had  arrived  here 
in  October,  1832.  This  car,  which  took  the  place 
of  the  Lancaster  mail  coach,  was  drawn  by  two 
horses  and  accommodated  thirty  passengers. 
The  old-time  route  was  giveni  ' '  from  the  ancient 
Court  House,  Second  and  Market  Streets,  to 
the  Lancaster  Court  House. ' ' 

A  short  distance  south  and  west  of  the  little 
town  of  Malvern,  on  Monument  Avenue,  is  a 
tall  monument  which  marks  the  site  of  what  has 
been  known  for  many  years  as  the  Paoli  Mas- 
sacre. This,  according  to  Dr.  Charles  J.  Stille, 
and  other  able  historians,  is  a  misnomer,  as  the 
so-called  massacre  was  nothing  more  or  less 
than  a  night  attack,  not  as  much  of  a  surprise 
as  Washington  gave  the  Hessians  at  Trenton 
in  December,  1776.  The  difference  between  the 
two  affairs  seems  to  have  been  that  Wayne's 
men  resisted,  fought  like  free  Americans,  as  he 
said,  and  sixty-one  of  the  command  of  twelve 
hundred  were  killed  and  a  number  wounded, 
while  at  Trenton  the  Hessian  mercenaries  were 
captured  to  the  number  of  nearly2  one  thousand. 

A  local  tradition,  still  believed  by  some  per- 

2  General  Washington's  report  to  Congress,  Headquarters, 
Newtown,  27  December,  1776. 

3  31 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

sons  in  the  neighborhood,  was  related  to  us  by  a 
friendly  guide  to  the  effect  that,  at  the  time 
of  General  Grey's  attack,  General  Wayne  was 
asleep  in  a  little  house  still  standing  near  the 
monument  He  is  said  to  have  escaped,  half- 
clad,  to  Waynesborough,  his  home,  several  miles 
distant.  There  is  no  foundation  whatever  for 
this  story;  indeed,  the  official  report  of  the 
affair  entirely  contradicts  it.  General  Wayne 
was  in  command  of  his  troops  and  seems  to  have 
done  all  that  was  possible  to  prepare  them  to 
resist  the  enemy,  in  the  very  short  notice  given 
him  by  a  resident  of  Chester  County,  whom  he 
spoke  of  as  "a  Mr.  Jones,  an  old  Gent'n  who 
lives  nearby  where  we  were  encamped." 

After  leaving  Malvern  we  passed  under  the 
railroad  bridge  and  reached  The  Warren,  as  it 
is  called  to-day,  a  famous  hostelry  in  its  time, 
whose  swinging  sign  once  bore  the  name  and 
picture  of  Admiral  Vernon,  and  after  the  Revo- 
lution that  of  the  patriot  general,  Joseph  War- 
ren, who  died  for  his  country  at  Bunker  Hill. 

These  old  roadside  taverns,  with  their  pic- 
turesque names,  The  Horse  and  Groom,  The  Old 
White  Horse,  the  Rising  Sun,  The  Hat,  and  The 
Ship,  tempt  one  to  linger  over  their  history  and 
associations;  but  our  Antiquary  reminded  us 
that  this  work  had  been  admirably  and  exhaust- 
ively done  by  Mr.  Julius  F.  Sachse,  Dr.  John 
T.  Faris  and  other  Pennsylvania  chroniclers, 

32 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


and  that  our  object  was  to  see  some  of  the  old 
Pennsylvania  towns. 

Downingtown,  our  next  objective  point,  was, 
she  said,  sufficiently  ancient  to  please  us,  hav- 
ing been  surveyed  as  early  as  1702  for  Joseph 
Cloud,  Jeremiah  Collett,  Robert  Vernon  and 
Daniel  Smith,  all  of  whom  took  up  land  here. 

A  short  distance  from  The  Warren  we  were 
attracted  by  a  signboard,  To  Swedesf  ord  Manor, 
and  being  out  for  pleasure  and  not  scheduled 
to  reach  Lancaster  at  any  particular  time,  we 
concluded,  with  the  approval  of  the  Antiquary, 
to  make  a  short  detour  in  order  to  see  the  old 
Coxe  and  Emlen  country  seat,  once  known  as 
Solitude,  now  Swedesf  ord  Manor.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  grounds,  nothing  looked  familiar 
to  us,  except  the  water  tower,  a  fine  new  barn 
and  outbuildings  having  taken  the  place  of  the 
old  farm  buildings  and  the  site  of  the  original 
house  being  now  occupied  by  a  handsome  Eliza- 
bethan structure,  built  by  the  present  owner  of 
the  property,  Mr.  Clarence  S.  Kates.  He  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  courtyard  when  we  motored 
up  to  the  house,  and,  recognizing  Sarah  as  an 
old  acquaintance,  he  courteously  showed  us  his 
beautiful  library,  hall  and  dining-room,  in  all 
of  which  the  wood-carving  is  very  fine.  Indeed, 
the  house,  inside  and  out,  reminded  us  strongly 
of  Haddon  Hall  in  England. 

Returning  to  the  pike,  we  passed  a  number 

33 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  attractive  country  places  with  lawns  shaded 
by  fine  old  trees,  among  these  the  home  of  the 
Beverend  William  Bull,  the  date,  1799,  in  the 
front  of  the  house,  attesting  to  its  antiquity. 

Near  Downingtown  is  the  Cain  meeting- 
house, one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the  old 
meetings,  set  aloof  a,s  it  is,  shaded  by  great  forest 
trees  and  surrounded  by  a  rich  farming  country. 
Of  it  John  Eussel  Hayes,  the  bard  of  many 
Friends  Meetings,  might  well  say,  as  he  said  of 
another  old  sanctuary: 

The  best  of  old  and  new  are  truly  blent 
In  this  old  house  among  the  ancient  trees, 

Set  round  with  slopes  of  wheat  and  fragrant  corn 
That  sway  and  waver  in  the  summer  breeze. 

Although  East  and  West  Downingtown  now 
form  a  busy,  prosperous  center,  the  older  town 
still  holds  much  of  the  village  charm  of  what 
was  once  "Downing's  Town,"  as  Eobert  Brooke 
called  it  in  his  survey  of  1806,  and  here  are  many 
picturesque  old  houses.  One  that  particularly 
interested  us  with  its  beautiful  Colonial  door  was 
formerly  the  home  of  one  of  the  Edge  family,  a 
great-uncle  of  Walter  E.  Edge,  recently  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey,  and  now  United  States 
Senator.  The  tea-house,  where  we  stopped  for 
some  light  refreshment,  was  the  residence  of 
one  of  the  early  Downings.  Thomas  Downing 
bought  nearly  six  hundred  acres  of  land  here  as 
early  as  1739.  Phineas  Eachus  was  another 

34. 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


early  settler;  his  field,  according  to  an  old  sur- 
vey, separating  the  Great  Valley  Road  from  the 
Philadelphia  Road,  the  latter  the  highway  upon 
which  we  were  so  joyously  traveling.  From 
East  Downingtown  we  crossed  the  Brandywine 
to  West  Downingtown,  and,  turning  to  the  right 
at  the  Baptist  Church,  according  to  the  direc- 
tions given  us  by  one  of  the  townspeople,  we 
gained  the  Harrisburg  Turnpike,  crossed 
Beaver  Creek  and  by  a  country  road  reached 
the  charming  old  Valentine  house,  of  which  we 
were  in  search,  now  the  home  of  Miss  Edge. 
Beaver  Creek,  which  later  joins  the  Brandy- 
wine,  flows  by  the  lawn  on  one  side ;  on  the  other 
side  and  across  the  road  is  an  old  mill  in  which 
flour  was  ground  for  the  Revolutionary  Army. 
The  house,  to  which  a  modern  gable  end  has 
been  added,  was  built  by  Robert  Valentine  in 
1768.  After  his  death  his  widow  left  the  home- 
stead and  removed  to  Bellefonte  with  her  five 
sons  and  a  pack  of  hounds.  Other  possessions 
Mrs.  Robert  Valentine  may  have  carried  with 
her  to  her  new  home,  but  the  five  sons  and  the 
pack  of  hounds  seem  to  have  been  the  only  be- 
longings considered  worthy  of  mention. 

Soon  after  our  return  to  the  highway  we 
passed  the  site  of  the  old  Ship  Tavern,  now  a 
private  residence.  A  local  chronicler  says  that 
the  Ship  was  generally  known  as  "The  Widow 
Evans ', '  *  as  it  was  kept  for  over  forty  years  by 

85 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Mistress  Susie  Evans,  of  whom  he  tells  the 
following  story : 

"  Along  about  sixty-five  years  ago  Mr.  Cham- 
bers, the  celebrated  divine  and  temperance  lec- 
turer, came  up  from  Philadelphia  to  deliver  a 
lecture  on  temperance  at  Grove,  in  Chester 
County.  He  left  the  train  at  Oakland  Station, 
now  Whitf ord,  and  before  going  across  he  en- 
tered the  hotel  at  that  place  and  requested  Mr. 
Boyer  to  give  him  'a  strong  cup  of  coffee/  A 
Mrs.  Evans,  who  kept  the  Ship  Tavern,  in  the 
same  township,  heard  of  the  incident,  and  in  the 
presence  of  some  parties  she  made  use  of  the 
expression  that  she  wished  he  had  come  to  her 
with  that  request,  adding,  'I  would  have  made 
it  strong  enough  for  him/  From  which  ex- 
pression, it  appeared  very  evident  that  Mis- 
tress Susie  Evans  would  not  have  voted  for  pro- 
hibition, if  the  question  had  been  put  to  the 
vote  in  her  time. 

Again  we  crossed  the  very  winding  Brandy- 
wine,  this  time  the  west  branch,  which  rises 
somewhere  in  the  Welsh  Mountains,  and  were 
speeding  through  Coatesville.  This  town,  beau- 
tifully situated  as  it  is,  is  so  beclouded  by  the 
smoke  of  its  many  steel  and  iron  furnaces  that 
we  are  wont  to  forget  its  beauty  and  think  of  it 
only  as  a  busy  manufacturing  town,  one  of  the 
great  centers  of  production  that  has  done  much 
to  make  Pennsylvania  "The  Industrial  Titan 
of  America, "  as  John  Oliver  La  Gorce  has  been 

36 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


pleased  to  name  it.  There  are,  however,  old 
streets  in  Coatesville  and  fine,  old  homes,  as  it 
was  settled  in  early  times,  and  named  after 
Moses  Coates,  who  came  to  Pennsylvania  with 
his  wife,  about  1717,  bringing  a  certificate  from 
Carow,  Ireland,  to  the  Haverf  ord  Monthly  Meet- 
ing. He  afterwards  owned  a  large  part  of  the 
land  in  and  around  what  is  now  Coatesville  and 
lived  in  a  house  still  standing  on  First  Avenue 
which  was  later  the  home  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Charles 
Lukens.  Mrs.  Lukens  was  a  daughter  of  Isaac 
Pennock,  who  purchased  from  the  Coates  family 
the  saw  mill  and  water-power  mill  in  1810, 
which  he  then  proceeded  to  change  into  an  iron 
mill.  Dr.  Charles  Lukens,  Mr.  Pennock 's  son- 
in-law,  came  into  the  business  in  1813,  being  the 
first  person  in  America  to  make  iron  plate  for 
the  construction  of  boilers.  On  the  death  of 
her  husband,  Mrs.  Lukens  carried  on  the  busi- 
ness successfully  for  many  years.  As  a  tribute 
to  the  memory  of  this  able  woman,  the  name 
of  the  works  was  changed  to  Lukens  Soiling 
Mills,  the  name  before  that  time  having  been  the 
Brandy  wine  Mills.  Later,  through  the  marriage 
of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lukens '  daughter  Isabella  to 
Dr  Charles  Huston,  the  mills  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  Huston  family,  who  still  own  them 
and  have  the  distinction  of  making  in  them  the 
largest  steel  plates  ever  produced,  large  enough 
to  form  the  crown  and  sides  of  a  locomotive  in 
one  piece. 

37 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

The  house  to  which  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lukens 
came  soon  after  their  marriage  was  considered 
old,  even  in  1816,  as  a  part  of  it  was  built  over 
a  hundred  years  before,  and  the  portion  added 
by  Moses  Coates  dated  back  to  days  before  the 
Eevolution.  Mrs.  Charles  Huston,  in  writing 
her  recollections  of  this,  her  early  home,  spoke 
of  the  fine  trees  and  beautiful  garden  surround- 
ing it,  and  of  its  remoteness  from  the  busy 
world.  In  1873  life  in  Coatesville  had  changed : 

"The  advent  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
into  our  midst  was  a  most  exciting  event.  Fifty 
year  ago,  probably,  my  mother,  standing  in  her 
own  doorway,  and  looking  northward,  said  to 
her  uncle,  Joseph  Webb : 

"  'I  shall  not  be  surprised  one  day  to  see  a 
railroad  upon  the  side  of  yonder  hills. ' 

"  'That,'  he  replied,  *  would  be  a  miracle 
which  could  never  happen  in  my  time.  They 
could  not  cross  that  gorge  through  which  the 
Brandy  wine  flows.' 

"  'Yes,'  said  my  mother,  'they  could  easily 
span  it  with  a  bridge';  and  so  they  did,  but  it 
did  not  happen  until  after  my  uncle's  death. 

' '  I  remember,  when  a  child,  waiting  for  hours 
on  the  hill  to  see  the  first  engine  upon  the  road. 
In  fact,  the  whole  community  turned  out  in 
great  excitement  to  gaze  at  the  novelty  and  to 
hear  the  first  echoes  reverberating  among  the 
hills.  Now,  the  Wilmington  and  Beading  Rail- 
road traverses  the  valley  of  the  Brandywine, 

38 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


intersecting  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  at 
Coatesville,  and  the  old  mansion  is  near  the 
noisy  angle  formed  by  both." 

On  the  left-hand  side  of  the  Lincoln  High- 
way, which  runs  directly  through  the  town,  we 
were  attracted  by  a  fine  old  house  with  balconies 
in  front,  now  the  Washington  House. 

After  leaving  Coatesville  we  passed  through 
the  Gap,  a  natural  passageway  between  the  hills, 
and  were  in  Lancaster  County.  Here  again  a 
signboard,  this  one  marked  " To  Honey  Brook," 
beguiled  us  from  the  straight  road  of  travel, 
and  we  were  soon  speeding  along  the  Honey 
Brook  road  toward  Windsor  Forges  and 
Churchtown,  both  in  Caernarvon  Township. 

Honey  Brook  is  a  typical  old  Pennsylvania 
town,  with  its  houses,  post-office  and  country 
store  all  being  set  near  the  sidewalk.  Why  the 
houses  are  thus  placed  in  so  many  Pennsylvania 
towns,  the  garden  and  everything  in  the  way  of 
beauty  at  the  rear  of  the  house, is  a  question  that 
has  never  been  satisfactorily  answered,  al- 
though various  reasons  have  been  given,  more 
or  less  plausible. 

After  a  bit  of  poor  road  and  after  crossing 
a  bridge,  we  suddenly  came  upon  the  beautiful 
old  mansion  of  Windsor  Forges,  whose  extended 
f  agade,  with  latticed  windows  and  wide  inviting 
doorway,  is  separated  from  the  road  by  a 
lawn  and  some  fine  trees.  The  hospitable 
chatelaine,  who  had  always  welcomed  us  to  her 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

home,  was  away,  so  the  caretaker  informed  us ; 
but  learning  that  we  were  friends  of  Miss 
Nevin,  we  were  allowed  to  enter  the  grounds, 
and  from  an  octagonal  porch  at  the  back  of  the 
house  to  enjoy  the  lawn,  terraced  down  to  the 
Conestoga,  making,  with  the  shrubbery,  shade 
trees  and  parterres  of  old-fashioned  flowers,  a 
charming  setting  for  the  long,  low  mansion, 
which  holds  many  memories  of  the  past.  Noth- 
ing is  left  of  the  old  forge,  or  of  the  workmen 's 
houses,  which  were  situated  on  the  winding 
Conestoga,  the  Crooked  Creek  of  the  Indians 
of  this  region ;  but  some  remains  are  still  to  be 
seen  of  the  cave  or  dugout  in  which  the  first 
settler,  John  Jenkins,  is  said  to  have  lived  until 
he  was  able  to  build  a  house  for  the  shelter  of 
himself  and  his  family.  Mr.  Jenkins,  with  other 
pioneers  from  Wales,  first  settled  in  Chester 
County  and  later,  tempted  by  a  desire  to  further 
explore  this  beautiful  and  fertile  region,  they 
pushed  on  westward  and  established  themselves 
in  what  is  now  Caernarvon  Township,  to  which 
they  gave  its  Welsh  name.  This  was  in  the  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  mansion 
house  and  the  forges  were  built  later,  some  time 
in  the  forties,  by  William  Branson,  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  owned  the  property  for  some  years, 
and  not  being  disposed  to  belittle  the  importance 
of  his  possession,  named  his  residence  after  the 
palace  of  the  King  of  England.  David  Jenkins, 
a  son  of  the  original  owner,  bought  back  Wind- 

40 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


sor  Forges,  with  the  mansion  house,  which  has 
been  in  possession  of  the  family  ever  since.  Miss 
Blanche  Nevin,  the  well-known  sculptor,  a  great- 
granddaughter  of  the  original  settler,  still  makes 
her  home  during  a  portion  of  the  year  in  the 
beautiful  old  mansion. 

On  the  lawn  is  a  substantial  little  stone 
house,  which  was  built  for  the  storing  of  food 
and  ammunition  in  the  event  of  an  attack  by  the 
Indians.  This  house  may  not  have  been  used 
for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  designed,  as 
the  Indians  in  this  neighborhood  seem  to  have 
been  friendly.  Mrs.  John  W.  Nevin,  a  direct 
descendant  of  the  first  John  Jenkins  of  Windsor 
Forges,  in  her  recollections,  spoke  of  an  Indian 
settlement  near  Churchtown,  and  she  said  that 
her  father,  the  Hon.  Robert  Jenkins,  told  her  of 
hunting  and  fishing,  in  his  boyhood,  with  these 
friendly  neighboring  Indians. 

We  passed  through  the  pretty  little  village 
of  Churchtown,  so  named  after  the  church  built 
there  about  1730  by  Welsh  settlers,  a  charter 
insuring  them  the  privilege  of  "the  free  exer- 
cise "  of  their  religion  having  been  given  them 
by  William  Penn  some  years  earlier. 

An  interesting  social  life  existed  in  this  part 
of  Pennsylvania  not  unlike  the  plantation  life 
of  Virginia.  We  find  associated  with  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Branson  at  Windsor  Forges,  Samuel 
Flower,  Richard  Hockley  and  Lynf  ord  Lardner, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  in  the  building  up  of  the 

41 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

town  and  the  church  many  persons  were  inter- 
ested whose  names  belong  to  the  social  life  of 
Philadelphia,  Pittsburgh  and  other  cities, 
among  these  were  the  large  and  influential  Jen- 
kins, Nevin,  Old,  Jacobs  and  Coleman  families. 
Mr.  Robert  Coleman,  of  Elizabeth  Furnace,  one 
of  the  noted  iron  masters  of  Pennsylvania,  was  a 
generous  contributor  to  the  little  church,  to 
which  the  town  owes  its  name,  as  was  Mr.  Cyrus 
Jacobs,  who  built  a  fine  old  mansion,  White  Hall, 
near  Churchtown. 

By  devious  ways,  and  some  roads  not  to  be 
recommended  to  the  automobilist,  we  returned 
to  our  good  friend,  the  Lincoln  Highway. 

As  we  motored  through  Lancaster  County, 
we  did  not  wonder  that  some  of  the  early  settlers 
of  Chester  County,  beautiful  as  it  is,  had  pushed 
on  to  the  west  into  what  was  later  to  be  known 
as  Lancaster  County,  a  veritable  garden  region. 
The  fact  that  the  settlers  here  had  named  their 
townships  Eden  and  Paradise  shows  how  truly 
they  appreciated  their  richly  productive  lands. 

The  Lincoln  Highway  runs  through  Para- 
dise, a  pretty  little  country  town  twelve  miles 
south  and  east  of  Lancaster;  the  most  noted 
dwelling  here  to-day  is  the  beautiful  country 
seat  of  Justice  I.  Hay  Brown,  whose  well-wooded 
lawn  slopes  down  to  the  road.  A  little  farther 
west  on  the  Highway  was  David  Witmer's  brick 
tavern, l  '  The  Sign  of  the  Stage ' ' ;  another  house 
owned  by  David  Witmer  is  now  the  residence 

42 


EN  ROUTE  TO  LANCASTER 


of  Judge  C.  I.  Landis,  who  has  written  an  inter- 
esting story  of  the  first  long  turnpike  in  the 
United  States.  This  house,  once  a  wayside  inn, 
bears  a  tablet  which  records  the  fact  that  it  was 
built  in  1781  by  David  and  Esther  Witmer.  One 
of  the  interesting  traditions  of  the  house  is  that 
General  Washington  stopped  here  when  return- 
ing from  one  of  his  expeditions  to  the  western 
part  of  the  state.  Opposite  the  house  a  "hemp 
mill"  stood,  and,  as  the  story  runs,  General 
Washington  wished  to  see  a  "hemp  mill' '  with  a 
view  to  putting  one  up  at  Mount  Vernon.  "Un- 
fortunately, the  person  who  operated  the  mill 
for  his  benefit  removed  some  of  the  bracing,  and 
a  plank,  coming  in  contact  with  the  rapidly- 
moving  machinery,  injured  the  operator  and 
startled  the  guest.  Because  of  this  unfortunate 
accident,  the  General  concluded  that  he  had 
no  use  for  the  machine. ' ' 

Another  interesting  association  with  this  his- 
toric town  is  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette's  visit 
in  1825.  Before  the  hostelry  was  a  marble 
"upping  block"  upon  which  the  French  visitor 
alighted  and  upon  which  he  stood  to  receive  a 
number  of  persons  who  were  eagerly  awaiting 
his  arrival.  The  old  ' '  upping  block ' '  still  stands 
before  the  home  of  Judge  Landis. 

Through  an  exquisitely  beautiful  country, 
filled  with  interesting  associations,  we  sped  on 
toward  Lancaster,  crossed  the  Conestoga  and 
were  in  the  old  city. 


Ill 

THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

AT  a  first  glance,  Lancaster  appears  to  the 
tourist  as  a  busy,  modern  city,  with  its  factories 
and  many  lines  of  trolleys  running  in  as  many 
directions,  but  after  crossing  the  Square  and 
walking  along  Lime  Street  we  found  in  shaded 
streets  and  quiet  corners  many  associations  with 
the  old  life  of  a  town  which,  after  Philadelphia, 
was  for  years  the  most  important  political  and 
social  center  in  Pennsylvania.  The  town  of  Lan- 
caster is  fairly  old,  having  been  laid  out  between 
1729  and  1732,  the  two  Hamiltons,  Andrew  Ham- 
ilton, Esq.,  and  his  son  James,  both  having  a 
hand  in  its  planning.  Here  we  find  the  Centre 
Square,  dear  to  the  early  settler  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, reminiscent,  as  it  was,  of  the  old  English 
town  which  he  had  left  for  the  New  World.  Such 
a  Centre  Square  as  William  Penn  planned  for 
Philadelphia,  Lancaster  has  to-day,  except  that 
the  good  Founder's  Centre  Square  wa,s  to  be 
kept  "fair  and  green, "  and  that  of  Lancaster 
is  far  too  busy  and  bustling  to  admit  of  grass 
growing  upon  it.  Everything  in  Lancaster 
comes  to  and  goes  from  the  Square,  and  there 
is  no  trace  of  the  older  town  here,  although  the 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

old  Court  House  once  stood  in  Centre,  or  Penn 
Square,  as  it  was  then  called.  A  still  older 
building,  the  log  court-house,  or  Postlethwait  's 
Tavern,  accommodated  the  early  justices  of 
Lancaster.  It  was  in  an  early  and  primitive 
court-house  that  the  governors  of  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  Delaware  and  Virginia  met  the  In- 
dian chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations  in  1744  and  lis- 
tened to  their  complaints  against  the  white 
settlers.  Of  this  conference  Miss  Martha  Bladen 
Clark  gives  an  interesting  description  gleaned 
from  old  records  and  diaries.1  After  the  formal 
meetings  of  the  conference  were  over,  a  dance 
was  given  near  the  home  of  Mr.  Thomas  Cook- 
son,  where  Governor*  Thomas  was  stopping1. 
This  Indian  dance  seems  to  have  been  of  a  war- 
like nature,  as  it  represented  the  Indians  in  the 
act  of  besieging  a  fort  of  their  enemies,  and  in 
view  of  tragic  Indian  massacres  in  several  of 
the  Colonies  about  this  time,  the  dance,  given 
in  honor  of  the  Commissioners,  could  not  have 
been  looked  upon  by  the  inhabitants  of  Lancas- 
ter as  an  unalloyed  pleasure.  The  savages, 
however,  seem  to  have  retired  peacefully  to 
their  wigwams  at  the  conclusion  of  the  dance, 
after  being  treated  to  light  refreshment  in  the 
form  of  sangaree.  Of  a  dinner  given  to  the 
twenty-four  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations,  Mr.  Wil- 

1 "  The  Hamilton  Grant "  by  Martha  Bladen  Clark,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Lancaster  Historical  Society. 

45 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

liam  Marshe,  Secretary  to  the  Maryland  Com- 
missioners, recorded  in  his  diary  that  the  din- 
ner, which  seems  to  have  been  given  by  the 
Commissioners  from  Maryland,  was  in  the 
Court  House,  and  was  attended  by  the  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  (George  Thomas)  and  a  great 
many  gentlemen  from  other  Colonies.  "  There 
was, ' '  said  Mr.  Marshe,  *  '  a  large  number  of  in- 
habitants of  Lancaster  present  to  see  the  Indians 
dine.  We  had  five  tables,  great  variety  of  dishes 
and  served  up  in  very  good  order.  The  Sachems 
sat  at  two  separate  tables,  at  the  head  of  one 
the  famous  Cannasateego  sat,  and  the  others 
were  placed  according  to  their  rank.  As  the 
Indians  are  not  accustomed  to  eat  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  English  or  other  polite  nations 
do,  we  who  were  secretaries  on  this  affair,  with 
Mr.  Thomas  Cookson,  Prothonotary  of  Lan- 
caster County;  William  Logan,  Esq.,  son  of  Mr. 
President  Logan,  and  Mr.  Nathaniel  Eigbie,  of 
Baltimore  County,  in  Maryland,  carved  the  meat 
for  them,  served  them  with  cider  and  wine  mixed 
with  water  and  regulated  the  ceremony  of  the 
two  tables.  The  chiefs  drank  heartily  and  were 
very  greasy  before  they  finished  their  dinner, 
for  by  the  bye  they  make  no  use  of  forks.  Con- 
rad Weiser,  the  interpreter,  was  a  guest  at  the 
dinner.  He  was  highly  respected  by  the  In- 
dians. Many  other  prominent  men  were  at  the 
dinner,  I  presume,  as  they  were  members  of  the 

46 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

Indian  Treaty,  viz.:  Eev.  Thomas  Craddock, 
rector  of  St.  Thomas  Parish,  Baltimore;  Ed- 
mund Jennings,  at  one  time  secretary  of  the 
Honorable  Commissioners  of  Maryland;  Peter 
Worrall,  who  keeps  an  inn  in  Lancaster,  and 
where  we  procured  a  room  and  a  dinner; 
Andrew  Hamilton,  son  of  the  distinguished  law- 
yer of  that  name;  James  Hamilton,  the  pro- 
prietor of  Lancaster,  who  also  made  the  ball 
and  opened  it  by  dancing  two  minutes  with  two 
of  the  ladies  here,  which  last  danced  wilder  time 
than  any  Indians ;  George  Sanderson,  who  kept 
an  inn,  and  the  first  town  clerk  of  the  borough  of 
Lancaster;  Honorable  Colonel  Thomas  Lee  and 
Colonel  William  Beverly,  both  Virginia  Com- 
missioners, both  worthy  descended,  with  His 
Excellency  Thomas  Bladen,  Esq.,  Governor  of 
the  Province  of  Maryland." 

Our  Antiquary  left  us  in  Lancaster,  as  she 
was  bent  upon  some  explorations  farther  north, 
in  Bradford  County,  where  she  had  heard  inter- 
esting tales  of  an  early  French  colony.  Before 
leaving  us  she  bespoke  the  good  will  of  a  local 
historian,  who  loves  his  Lancaster  and  is  doing 
his  best  to  make  us  love  it.  While  walking  along 
Orange  Street,  he  reminded  us  that  we  were 
near  the  scene  of  the  Indian  dance  of  1744,  as 
Mr.  Thomas  Cookson's  house,  where  he  enter- 
tained Governor  Thomas,  was  on  this  street.  On 
Orange  Street,  also,  is  the  house,  still  in  good 

4  47 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

condition,  in  which  Christopher  Marshall  lived 
and  wrote  his  valuable  and  gossiping  and  some- 
times acrimonious  diary.  Passing  events  dur- 
ing the  War  of  the  Revolution  furnished  an 
interesting  background  for  a  chronicler,  and  at 
Marshall's  hands  no  dramatic  possibility  was 
lost.  Reports  of  the  advance  of  the  British  were 
daily  received;  one  day  the  enemy  was  said  to 
be  near  Downitigtown  and  pushing  on  towards 
Swedes  Ford,  another  day  troops  were  within 
eighteen  miles  of  Lancaster,  upon  which 
Marshall  reflects  "the  progress  and  fertility 
of  the  lying  spirit,  that  moves  about  in  and 
through  the  different  classes  of  men  in  this 
place,  attended  with  twistings,  windings  and 
turnings  that  it  seems  impossible  to  fix  any  truth 
upon  them." 

Back  of  the  lying  spirit  and  the  twistings  and 
turnings,  there  was  a  background  of  stern  real- 
ity, as  the  British  entered  Philadelphia  Septem- 
ber 26th.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  had  already 
left,  some  of  them,  like  Jacob  Hiltsheimer  and 
his  family,  going  north  to  Trenton  and  after- 
wards to  Beading  and  Bethlehem,  as  he  recorded 
in  his  diary  under  date  of  October  8,  1777: 
"Dined  at  Bethlehem  and  them  proceeded  to 
Squire  Peter  Trexler's,  who  received  us  with 
great  good  will."  This  Peter  Trexler,  Justice 
of  the  Peace  in  Colonial  days  and  under  the  Con- 
stitution, lived  near  Breinigsville,  a  village 
eight  miles  west  of  Allentown. 

48 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

The  Supreme  Executive  Council  must  have 
reached  Lancaster  by  a  roundabout  way,  and, 
according  to  a  story  preserved  in  the  Baker 
family,  then  living  at  Point-no  Point  on  the 
Delaware,  Governor  Wharton  was  rowed  across 
the  river  by  Mr.  Conrad  Baker. 

This  was  evidently  just  before  the  British 
entered  Philadelphia,  and  as  the  Governor  and 
Council  did  not  reach  Lancaster  until  the  29th 
of  September,  several  days  must  have  been 
spent  on  the  journey.  Mr.  Conrad  Baker's  ac- 
count of  the  departure  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  is  interesting  as  from  a  person  living 
on  the  Delaware  at  that  time.  Mr.  Baker  said 
the  Governor  rode  directly  to  his  house  and 
hastily  asked  of  Mr.  Baker  some  means  of  trans- 
portation across  the  Delaware.  Mr.  Baker 
replied  that  he  would  first  have  to  hobble  the 
horses  in  the  field  to  delay  or  to  prevent  the 
British  from  using  them  in  place  of  their  own 
jaded  steeds.  This  he  hastily  did,  and  then  con- 
ducted the  Governor  to  the  river  bank,  but  be- 
fore they  could  start  to  cross  they  heard  the 
report  of  the  British  firearms  from  the  house. 
" There, "  said  Mr.  Baker,  "they  have  shot  the 
dogs, ' '  which  ultimately  proved  to  be  true.  He 
assured  the  Governor  that  he  had  no  fear  for 
his  family,  as  the  soldiers  would  not  kill  women 
and  children,  so  they  both  concealed  themselves 
in  the  bushes  until  a  favorable  opportunity  for 

49 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

escape  presented  itself,  when  they  at  once  took 
to  the  boat  and  rowed  across  to  Jersey,  as  is 
supposed,  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Browning,  who 
lived  on  the  opposite  shore.  Another  version  of 
the  story,  and  a  less  probable  one,  is  that  Mrs. 
Baker  rowed  the  Governor  across  the  river. 
However  this  may  be,  the  Bakers  seem  to  have 
had  a  hand  in  getting  him  across. 

For  one  day,  Lancaster  had  the  distinction 
of  being  the  seat  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
Marshall  recorded  in  his  diary  September  29th : 
' '  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia  came 
to-day,  as  did  our  President  or  Governor,  the 
Executive  Council  and  the  members  of  the 
Assembly  who  met  here  this  day  in  the  Court 
House."  The  same  day  Congress  set  off  for 
Yorktown.  The  reason  for  the  removal  of  the 
Congress  is  obvious,  Lancaster  is  only  sixty- 
eight  miles  from  Philadelphia,  the  goal  of  the 
British  army,  and  directly  on  the  route  to  that 
city,  while  York,  some  miles  south  and  west, 
looked  like  a  safer  place  of  meeting.  As  it  hap- 
pened, the  British  did  not  stop  in  Lancaster 
en  route  to  the  capital  city,  and  the  government 
of  Pennsylvania  was  carried  on  in  this  town 
during  the  War  of  the  Eevolution  and  for  some 
time  after. 

Timothy  Matlack,  Secretary  of  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council,  also  lived  on  Orange  Street, 
nearly  opposite  Marshall's  old  residence.  An- 

50 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

other  interesting  house  is  that  of  Caleb  Cope. 
In  this  house,  on  the  north  side  of  Grant  Street, 
near  Lime  Street,  was  lodged  Major  John 
Andre.  The  young  British  officer  had  been  made 
a  prisoner  of  war  by  General  Richard  Mont- 
gomery when  St.  Johns  was  captured  by  him  in 
November,  1775.  Writing  to  a  friend  at  this 
time,  Andre  said,  "I  have  been  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Americans  and  stripped  of  everything 
except  the  picture  of  Honora,2  which  I  concealed 
in  my  mouth. "  A  number  of  other  prisoners 
were  taken  at  this  time,  some  of  whom  were 
brought  to  Lancaster,  which,  like  Beading  and 
York,  was  considered  a  safe  place  for  the  lodg- 
ing of  prisoners,  being  convenient  to  both  capi- 
tals and  yet  not  so  close  to  the  scene  of  military 
operations  as  to  be  unsafe  for  prisoners  of  war. 
Many  of  these  prisoners  reached  Lancaster  in 
a  destitute  condition,  and  when  the  Government 
was  unable  to  supply  them  with  food  and  cloth- 
ing, they  were  given  the  comforts  of  life  by 
Matthias  Slough.  "The  men,"  says  the  late 
Mr.  W.  U.  Hensel,  one  of  Lancaster's  valued  his- 
torians, "were  kept  at  the  barracks,  surrounded 
by  a  stockade ;  and  the  British  officers  lodged  at 
public  or  private  houses.  Andre  not  only  found 
shelter  under  the  roof  of  Cope,  but  had  con- 
genial associations  with  his  family.  That  it  was 

2  Honora  Sneyd,  to  whom  Andre  was  devotedly  attached. 
She  afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Richard  Edgeworth,  and 
the  step-mother  of  Maria  Edgeworth. 

51 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

not  a  popular  thing  for  a  Quaker  to  give  even 
this  semblance  of  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the  mob 
smashed  all  of  the  windows  of  the  Cope  man- 
sion. The  citizens  who  had  tolerated,  if  not 
encouraged,  such  demonstrations,  redeemed 
themselves  somewhat,  however,  by  afterwards 
liberally  assisting  Cope  to  reconstruct  his  house 
when  it  had  been  accidentally  damaged  by  fire. ' ' 

Besides  Major  Andre,  there  was  lodged  with 
Cope  another  prisoner,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ed- 
ward Marcus  Despard,  an  Irish  soldier  of  for- 
tune. Mr.  Thomas  C.  Cope,  in  writing  his  recol- 
lections of  Major  Andre,  said:  "I  was,  at  that 
time,  a  small  boy,  but  well  remember  Andre's 
bland  manners,  sporting  with  us  children  as  one 
of  us,  more  particularly  attached  to  John.  We 
often  played  marbles  and  other  boyish  games 
with  him." 

To  John  Cope  the  young  officer  gave  some 
lessons  in  drawing  and  painting  and  to  William 
Barton  also.  Barton  became  an  excellent 
draughtsman,  and  afterwards  drew  the  design 
for  the  seal  of  the  United  States.  An  odd  coin- 
cidence, it  seems,  that  he  should  have  received 
instruction  from  this  British  prisoner  of  war 
in  Lancaster.  That  Andre  received  many  kind 
attentions  and  made  a  number  of  friends  in  this 
town  appears  from  a  letter  written  from  Car- 
lisle, to  which  town  he  and  Colonel  Despard 

52 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

were  removed  later.  In  this  letter,  addressed 
to  Mr.  Eberhardt  Michael,  of  Lancaster,  Andre 
sent  messages  to  his  friends.  "If  you  see  Mr. 
Wirtz  and  Eev.  Mr.  Hellemuth  and  H.  Graff, 
please  give  my  respects  to  them — from  the  last- 
mentioned  I  have  received  the  maps,  and  thank 
him. ' '  In  a  postscript  he  added,  ' l  If  you  should 
see  Mr.  Slough,  have  the  kindness  to  request 
him  to  write  to  me.  His  silence  makes  me  at 
a  loss  about  him."  The  Mr.  Slough  alluded  to 
was  Colonel  Mathias  Slough,  who  did  so  much 
to  make  the  British  prisoners  of  war  comfort- 
able while  in  Lancaster. 

This  letter,  of  which  Judge  Landis,  of  Lan- 
caster, has  furnished  a  translation,  is  written 
in  German,  and  is  of  especial  interest  as  the  only 
letter  in  that  language  written  by  Andre  known 
to  exist.  It  proves  this  versatile  and  charming 
young  officer  to  have  possessed  one  more  among 
the  many  accomplishments  that  delighted  his 
friends  and  served  to  relieve  the  monotony  of 
his  imprisonment.  "We  pass  our  time,"  he 
says,  "in  making  music,  reading  books,  and 
await  humbly  our  liberation,  and  upon  more 
peaceable  times. " 

Beading  such  letters  as  this,  one  does 
not  wonder  that  the  Cope  boys,  and  all  with 
whom  he  was  associated,  loved  this  ill-fated 
young  officer. 

From  the  Cope  house  and  its  interesting 

53 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

associations,  we  come  back  to  Orange  Street. 
At  the  corner  of  East  Lime  Street  is  the  charm- 
ing home  of  the  Misses  Kline,  daughters  of  Mr. 
George  Kline,  with  its  garden  on  Orange 
Street,  and  directly  opposite  is  the  handsome 
building  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation. While  rejoicing  that  any  city  should 
own  so  well  equipped  and  comfortable  a  home 
for  working  women  as  this,  of  which  Lancaster 
may  well  be  proud,  we  cannot  help  regretting 
the  fine  old  Shippen  house,  whose  site  it  occu- 
pies. This  house,  which  has  met  the  fate  of  so 
many  old  residences,  was,  in  1752,  the  home  of 
Edward  Shippen,  a  grandson  of  Edward  Ship- 
pen,  of  Cheshire,  England,  who  was  perse- 
cuted in  Boston  for  the  sin  of  being  a  Quaker, 
and  removed  to  Philadelphia  to  become  its  hon- 
ored Mayor.  It  being  a  habit  in  the  Shippen 
family  to  be  Mayors  of  Philadelphia,  this  Ed- 
ward Shippen,  son  of  Joseph,  held  that  and 
other  important  positions  in  Philadelphia  be- 
fore he  removed  to  Lancaster.  Here  Mr.  Ship- 
pen  became  Recorder  and  Register  for  the 
County  and  acted  as  paymaster  for  supplies  for 
the  troops  under  Generals  Forbes,  Stanwix  and 
Bouquet.  Living  near  Mr.  Shippen 's  fine  old 
mansion  on  Orange  Street,  Christopher  Mar- 
shall, who  was  often  severe  in  his  strictures  upon 
the  joys  of  life,  recorded  in  his  diary,  of  Sunday, 
July  26,  1778,  a  bit  of  pleasant  sociability  with 

54 


THE   BRETHREN'S   CHURCH   AND   PARSONAGE,   LANCASTER 


HOUSE  OF  EDWARD  SHIPPEN  OF  LANCASTER 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

Mr.  Shippen,  with,  whom  he  walked  home  from 
the  " Dutch  Presbyterian  Meeting  House," 
where  they  had  listened  to  a  discourse  from 
"one  Fifer,  minister  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land." "Keturned  with  Shippen,"  he  wrote, 
"who  pressed  me  to  stop  at  his  house,  and  drink 
a  glass  of  beer  of  his  own  brewing. ' ' 

A  less  peaceful  Sunday  than  this  of  July 
26th,  when  Mr.  Marshall  and  Mr.  Shippen 
drank  beer  of  the  latter 's  own  brewing,  was  that 
Sunday  in  December,  1763,  when  Mr.  Shippen, 
as  chief  burgess  of  Lancaster,  was  called  out  of 
church  in  consequence  of  a  sudden  foray  of  the 
Paxton  boys,  who  suddenly  appeared  in  the 
yard  of  the  Swan  Inn,  as  Mr.  Shippen  isaid 
in  his  report  to  the  Governor,  "upwards  of  a 
hundred  armed  men  from  the  post  road  rode 
very  fast  into  town,  turned  their  horses  into 
Mr.  Slough '&  and  proceeded  with  the  greatest 
precipitation  to  the  workhouse,  where  they  stove 
in  the  door  and  killed  all  the  Indians." 

The  premeditated  murder,  in  cold  blood,  of 
these  captive  Conestogas  by  men  who  belonged 
to  a  civilized  nation  is  one  of  the  blackest  pages 
in  the  history  of  Pennsylvania. 

After  the  death  of  Edward  Shippen,  the  fine 
old  mansion  on  Orange  Street  passed  into  the 
hands  of  his  son  Edward,  the  Chief  Justice, 
whose  daughter  Peggy  was  the  wife  of  Bene- 
dict Arnold.  The  house  was  afterwards  bought 

55 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

by  Joseph  Shippen,  another  son  of  Edward  of 
Lancaster.  This  Joseph  Shippen,  who  lived  for  a 
time  in  the  old  Lancaster  home,  was  an  able  man, 
a  public-spirited  citizen,  a  soldier  and,  withal, 
something  of  a  gallant,  as  is  proved  by  his 
" Lines  Written  in  an  Assembly  Room,"  cele- 
brating the  charms  of  such  Philadelphia  belles 
of  his  time  as  Sally  Cox,  Polly  Franks,  Kathe- 
rine  Inglis  and  the  Chew  sisters,  both  so  fair 
that  the  poet  was  at  a  loss  to  decide  which  was 
the  fairer : 

With  either  Chew  such  beauties  dwell, 
Such  charms  of  each  are  shared, 

No  critic's  judging  eye  can  tell 
Which  merits  most  regard. 

That  Mr.  Shippen  did  not  descant  upon  the 
charms  of  Lancaster  belles  was  probably  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  came  to  live  in  this  town  late 
in  life,  when  his  dancing  and  ball-going  days 
were  over.  After  his  death  in  1810  the  old  home 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Edward  Shippen  Burd 
and  was  later  bought  by  the  Honorable  Walter 
Franklin,  Attorney-General  of  the  Common- 
wealth and  an  honored  citizen  of  Lancaster. 
Judge  Franklin  was  a  nephew  of  Mr.  Walter 
Franklin,  of  New  York,  whose  home  at  the 
corner  of  Pearl  and  Cherry  Streets  was  chosen, 
in  1789,  as  the  most  suitable  in  the  city 
for  the  residence  of  President  Washington, 
and  is  spoken  of  in  letters  of  the  period  as 

56 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

"the  Palace,"  being  looked  upon  as  a  very 
elegant  mansion. 

After  being  in  the  Franklin  family  for 
twenty-six  years,  the  Shippen  House  became  the 
property  of  Mr.  Emanuel  C.  Reigart,  and  was 
the  scene  of  much  charming  hospitality.  If  those 
who  have  lived  in  and  have  been  entertained  in 
this  house  could  come  back  to  their  old-time 
haunts,  what  surprises  would  be  theirs,  and 
what  would  they  think  of  this  beautifully- 
equipped  home  for  working  girls  that  occupies 
the  site  of  the  old  house,  with  its  library,  gym- 
nasium and  swimming  pool? 

"And  what,"  said  Kathleen,  "would  the 
pretty  little  Mennonite waitresses  think  of  them? 
How  scared  they  would  be  to  see  old-fashioned 
spirits  stalking  through  this  modern  dining- 
room  ! ' ' 

"Do  spirits  never  change  their  fashions!" 
asked  the  Antiquary,  laughing  at  Kath- 
leen's fancy. 

"Never,  and  neither  do  the  Mennonites  and 
Amish,  as  far  as  I  can  see.  I  asked  one  of  the 
pretty  waitresses  if  she  wore  her  coquettish  lit- 
tle cap  because  it  was  becoming.  She  seemed 
quite  shocked  at  my  levity,  and  said  that  she 
had  to  wear  it." 

"Yes,  they  have  to  have  the  head  covered, 
and  no  one  could  object  to  the  little  cap  which 
sets  off  a  pretty  face;  but  the  bonnets  are  not 

67 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

so  becoming,  and  I  even  knew  of  an  engagement 
being  broken  off  on  account  of  the  bonnet.  It 
appears  that  the  suitor  had  never  seen  the  girl 
in  her  black  bonnet,  and  when  he  found  that 
there  was  no  way  of  getting  out  of  wearing  it 
he  simply  backed  out. ' ' 

"Very  ungallant,"  said  Kathleen,  "but  the 
bonnets  are  a  mortification  to  the  flesh. " 

This  being  a  market  day,  we  had  seen  many 
of  the  country  people  in  the  streets,  in  their  dis- 
tinctive costume,  and  when  we  stopped  at  the 
Christian  Association  for  a  cafeteria  luncheon 
we  found  a  number  of  the  Mennonite  women 
seated  at  table.  Seeing  them  there  enjoying  a 
good  luncheon  we  felt  very  much  as  John  Adams 
felt  about  the  Quakers  in  Philadelphia:  glad 
that  there  was  one  carnal  vanity  in  which  they 
could  indulge,  that  of  good  living. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  Stevens  House, 
which,  although  it  bears  the  name  of  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  is  built  upon  the  site  of  the  old  Krugh 
house,  we  passed  by  the  Lutheran  Church,  where 
we  stopped  to  read  some  tablets  on  the  wall,  in 
honor  of  General  Mifflin  and  President  Whar- 
ton.  The  latter  died  in  May,  1778,  while  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  buried  inside 
of  the  church  in  front  of  the  pulpit  and  altar. 

Although  the  death  of  the  President  of  the 
Supreme  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania 
was  a  serious  loss  at  this  time  and  was  deeply 

58 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

regretted,  the  funeral  seems  to  have  been  a 
rather  convivial  affair,  as  appears  from  a  bill 
of  expenses  recently  found  among  some  old 
papers,  in  which  the  sums  spent  for  fiddles  used 
at  the  funeral  of  President  Wharton  and  for 
many  gallons  of  punch  consumed  at  the  same 
are  set  forth  at  length. 

The  Episcopal  Church,  Saint  James,  was 
closed  in  1776,  in  consequence  of  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  rector,  Mr.  Thomas  Barton,  which 
probably  accounts  for  the  fact  that  President 
Wharton  was  not  buried  in  its  beautiful 
church  yard. 

Born  in  Ireland  and  educated  in  Dublin,  Mr. 
Barton  was  not  in  sympathy  with  Kevolutionary 
methods.  He  was  an  able  and  scholarly  man, 
and  was  greatly  respected  for  his  missionary 
labors  among  the  Indians.  One  of  the  diarists 
of  the  time  recorded:  "Mr.  Barton,  the  English 
parson,  sold  his  house  to  his  son-in-law,  Zant- 
zinger,  and  left  with  his  wife  for  Boston,  and 
from  thence  to  England.  He  refused  to  take 
the  oath."  Mr.  Barton,  however,  did  not  reach 
England,  as  he  was  taken  ill  in  New  York,  died 
there  and  was  buried  in  the  grounds  of  Saint 
George's  Chapel. 

Mr.  Barton's  first  wife  was  a  sister  of  the 
celebrated  astronomer  and  mathematician, 
David  Eittenhouse;  their  son,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Smith  Barton,  became  a  distinguished  physician 

59 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  botanist;  another  son,  William,  it  was  who 
designed  the  seal  of  the  United  States. 

Before  going  back  to  our  hotel,  our  cicerone 
insisted  that  we  should  visit  the  tomb  of  Thad- 
deus  Stevens  in  Schreiner's  Cemetery.  Despite 
his  Vermont  birth,  Lancaster  claims  Thaddeus 
Stevens  as  her  own,  and  with  all  his  varied 
achievements  perhaps  Pennsylvania's  heaviest 
debt  of  gratitude  to  Thaddeus  Stevens  is  the 
work  accomplished  by  him  for  the  public  schools 
of  this  state.  Some  of  Mr.  Stevens'  eloquent 
and  impassioned  pleas  for  the  free  school  sys- 
tem, delivered  in  the  House  at  a  critical  period 
in  the  history  of  education,  have  been  preserved 
and  prove  how  highly  this  Vermont  farmer's  son 
valued  the  educational  advantages  that  had 
come  to  him  through  the  care  and  self-sacrifice 
of  a  wise  and  devoted  mother.  In  recognition 
of  Mr.  Stevens'  valuable  service  to  the  cause 
of  education,  one  of  the  finest  buildings  of  the 
Girls'  High  School  is  named  Stevens  Hall. 
Other  citizens  of  Lancaster  who  did  much  for 
the  cause  of  the  public  school  and  the  high 
school  were  Thomas  H.  Burrowes  and  James  P. 
Wickersham.  Both  of  these  men  were  indefati- 
gable in  their  labor  for  the  cause  of  free  educa- 
tion. The  Wickersham  School  in  Pittsburgh 
was  so  named  in  Mr.  Wickersham 's  honor,  and 
another  enduring  monument  is  his  exhaustive 
and  interesting  work  upon  education  in  Penn- 

60 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

sylvania  from  the  settlements  of  the  Swedes 
and  Dutch  on  the  Delaware  to  our  own  time. 

We  often  passed  by  the  beautiful  grounds 
and  fine  buildings  of  Franklin  and  Marshall 
College ;  and  we  could  not  think  of  leaving  Lan- 
caster without  stopping  at  the  Juliana  Library, 
whose  name  had  always  interested  me,  and  then 
it  was  one  of  the  earliest  libraries  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  was  the  leader  in  all  the  Colonies 
in  establishing  circulating!  libraries.  Doctor 
Franklin 's  came  first,  then  the  little  library  at 
Hatboro,  started  in  1755,  and  the  Juliana  was 
the  third  library. 

Mr.  Henderson  says  that  the  first  name  was 
the  Lancaster  Library  Company,  but  later,  when 
a  charter  was  granted  by  Governor  James  Ham- 
ilton, in  1763,  the  name  given  was  the  Juliana 
Library.  No  reason  for  this  change  of  title  has 
been  given,  and  no  record  of  a  considerable  do- 
nation in  money  or  in  books  by  the  lady  after 
whom  the  library  was  named  has  been  found, 
Lady  Juliana  Penn,  wife  of  Thomas  Penn,  one 
of  the  Proprietaries  of  Pennsylvania. 

" Perhaps, "  said  Kathleen,  "the  name  Juli- 
ana was  given  in  the  hope  of  eliciting  substan- 
tial aid  from  the  noble  godmother." 

t  i  Probably,  but  we  found  no  mention  of  any 
considerable  donation  from  the  high-born 
lady,"  said  Mr.  Henderson.  "The  earliest  sub- 
scribers, whose  names  were  appended  to  the 

61 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

constitution  and  by-laws,  are  those  of  Thomas 
Barton,  rector  of  St.  John's  Church;  Samuel 
and  Joseph  Boude,  William  Atlee,  Robert  Ful- 
ton, father  of  the  inventor;  Adam  Kuhn,  Jr., 
Edward  Shippen,  William  Bauseman  and 
George  Koss,  the  signer,  whose  house  was  on 
King  Street. " 

Another  morning  we  made  our  way  to  Saint 
James  Church,  which  stands  on  a  shaded  cor- 
ner of  Orange  Street.  This  interesting  old 
building  dates  back  to  days  long  before  the 
Revolution.  James  Hamilton,  who  owned  a 
large  tract  of  land  in  Lancaster,  gave  three 
town  lots  to  this  parish  in  1744,  and  the  stone 
church  was  completed  in  1753.  Thomas  Cook- 
son  and  John  Postlethwaite,  who  kept  his 
famous  tavern  on  the  great  Conestoga  road, 
were  wardens  of  St.  James  some  years  before 
the  building  was  finished.  In  1753  it  still  lacked 
a  steeple,  and  we  find,  as  in  the  case  of  the  par- 
ishioners of  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  that 
there  seem  to  have  existed  no  conscientious 
scruples  against  a  lottery  for  the  benefit  of  the 
church,  and  in  1761  it  was  recorded  that  the 
drawings  of  the  lottery  were  reported  finished, 
and  a  little  later  that  the  graveyard  was  "  en- 
closed with  a  stone  wall  covered  with  cedar 
shingles."  This  was  while  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Barton  was  rector  of  the  church. 

Interesting  as  the  building  is,  with  its  tablets 

62 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

and  handsome  memorial  windows,  we  were  more 
inclined  to  wander  through  the*  old  graveyard 
under  the  elms  and  blooming  catalpas  on  this 
June  day.  Here  sleep  many  of  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  old  Lancaster.  Franklins,  Cole- 
mans,  Atlees,  Grubbs,  Sloughs,  Slaymakers, 
Hands  and  Clarksons,  and  one  of  the  oldest 
tombstones  in  the  churchyard  is  that  of  Thomas 
Cookson,  who  seems  to  have  been  fervent  in  spirit 
as  well  as  diligent  in  business,  as  he  was  one  of 
the  chief  supporters  of  the  old  church.  Here  also 
is  the  grave  of  William  Augustus  Atlee,  who  held 
many  important  positions  in  Lancaster  and  in 
1791  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Penn- 
sylvania, which  seems  to  have  been  composed  of 
the  counties  of  Chester,  Lancaster,  York  and 
Dauphin.  A  grandson  of  Judge  Atlee,  Dr.  John 
Light  Atlee,  widely  known  in  his  day  as  one  of 
the  great  physicians  and  surgeons  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, is  buried  here,  and  here  under  pyramidal 
monuments  rest  the  Honorable  Jasper  Yeates 
and  his  wife,  Sarah  Burd  Yeates.  Of  this 
learned  jurist,  Mr.  William  F.  Woerner,  the 
chronicler  of  the  history  and  associations  of  this 
old  churchyard  says:  "As  a  judge,  he  com- 
manded the  highest  respect  and  deference;  his 
decisions  from  the  Bench  were  clear  and  de- 
cisive, and  indicated  a  profound  knowledge  of 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  country.  In 
his  social  relations  he  was  most  kind,  cheerful 

5  63 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  of  a  very  affectionate  disposition.  But, 
better  than  all,  he  was  a  thorough  Christian 
gentleman."  Here  also  near  the  church  that 
they  served  as  rectors  rest  the  mortal  remains 
of  the  Eev.  Joseph  Clarkson  and  Bishop  Sam- 
uel Bowman,  whose  wife  was  the  daughter  of 
Doctor  Clarkson.  Under  the  shadow  of  the 
church  are  the  tombs  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Cole- 
man  and  his  wife,  and  near  by  those  of  his  two 
daughters,  Anne  and  Sarah. 

The  unhappy  love  affairs  of  these  two  fair 
girls  are  still  discussed  with  interest  by  old 
Lancastrians,  as  the  world  loves  a  mystery 
and  a  mystery  has  always  surrounded  these  ro- 
mances. The  interest  in  the  breaking  of  the 
engagement  between  Anne  Coleman  and  James 
Buchanan  was  enhanced  by  subsequent  events  in 
his  career.  The  story  has  often  been  told,  and 
with  many  variations,  but  the  simple  and  un- 
adorned tale  is  that  when  a  young  man  Mr. 
Buchanan  became  engaged  to  Anne  C.  Coleman, 
a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Coleman.  Miss 
Coleman  is  described  by  those  who  knew  her  as 
beautiful  and  singularly  attractive,  and  the 
course  of  true  love  seemed  to  be  running 
smoothly,  as  Mr.  Coleman  had  given  his  con- 
sent to  the  marriage,  when  the  young  lady  sud- 
denly broke  her  engagement,  for  what  reason 
the  world  has  never  known.  All  that  the  little 
world  of  Lancaster  knew  was  that  Mr.  Buchanan 

64 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

received  a  note  while  in  court,  which  he  read, 
looked  very  much  troubled  and  left  the  court- 
room soon  after.  A  few  days  later  Miss  Cole- 
man  died  while  visiting  a  friend  in  Philadel- 
phia. Mr.  Buchanan,  in  writing  to  Mr.  Cole- 
man,  said,  "  You  have  lost  a  dear,  dear  daughter. 
I  have  lost  the  only  earthly  object  of  my  affec- 
tions, without  whom  life  now  presents  to  me  a 
dreary  blank."  Mr.  Buchanan  was  faithful  to 
the  memory  of  his  early  love  as  he  never  mar- 
ried, and  at  Wheatland,  and  in  Washington,  his 
house  was  presided  over  by  his  beautiful  and 
accomplished  niece,  Miss  Harriet  Lane,  who  is 
still  remembered  in  Lancaster.  After  a  varied 
and  interesting  experience,  at  home  and  abroad, 
Miss  Lane  married  Henry  E.  Johnston,  of  Bal- 
timore. Mr.  Buchanan  entirely  approved  of  his 
niece's  choice,  and  in  writing  to  her  gave  her  a 
warning  that  shows  how  deeply  his  own  un- 
happy experience  had  impressed  itself  upon  his 
mind:  " Beware  of  unreasonable  delays  in  the 
performance  of  the  ceremony,  lest  they  may 
be  attributed  to  an  improper  motive. ' ' 

Sarah  Coleman  's  experience  was  equally  un- 
happy, but  less  mysterious  than  that  of  her 
sister.  She  was  engaged  to  the  Eeverend  Wil- 
liam Augustus  Muhlenberg  who  was  co-rector 
of  St.  James  Parish  for  some  years.  "  During 
his  residence  here, ' '  says  Mr.  William  F.  Woer- 
ner,  "he  did  much  to  further  the  cause  of  edu- 

65 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

cation.  He  also  instituted  an  evening  service 
in  the  church,  which  so  angered  the  father  of 
his  beloved  Sarah  that  it  *  prevented  him  from 
attaining  the  dearest  object  of  his  heart.' 
Shortly  after  the  episode  that  was  so  painful  to 
him,  he  tendered  his  resignation.  He  was  pre- 
vailed upon  to  reconsider  it,  but  this  he  refused. 
It  is  said  that  when  Muhlenberg  departed  from 
Lancaster  he  left  behind  him  the  grave  of  all  his 
earthly  hopes,  and  that  when  he  did  return  to 
visit  the  first  and  last  place  to  which  he  turned 
his  steps  was  to  the  grave  in  Saint  James 
churchyard.  He  never  visited  it  without 
taking  with  him  a  spray  of  the  sweetbrier 
which  grew  there.  He,  like  James  Buchanan, 
never  married." 

This  is  one  story;  another  and  even  more 
romantic  tale  is  that  Mr.  Muhlenberg  threw  into 
the  grave  of  the  beloved  Sarah  Coleman  the 
engagement  ring1  and  a  copy  of  his  famous 
hymn,  "I  Would  Not  Live  Alway,"  the  pathetic 
lines  of  which  were  the  outcome  of  his  sorrow. 
As  we  left  the  shaded  churchyard,  with  its  beau- 
tiful trees  and  its  many  associations, we  realized 
that  much  romance  as  well  as  history  was  buried 
here — romances  of  real  life  more  thrilling  and 
pathetic  than  those  to  be  found  between  the 
covers  of  novels. 

Strolling  about  the  old  parts  of  the  town, 
we  remarked  upon  the  good  taste  of  the  Lan- 

66 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

castrians  in  retaining  such  interesting  names  for 
the  streets  as  King  and  Queen,  Orange,  Duke  and 
Prince,  to  which  our  Antiquary,  who  had  kindly 
offered  to  guide  us-  to  some  of  the  old  houses, 
said:  "Yes,  that  was  wise;  but  with  the  abol- 
ishing of  the  old  inns  of  which  there  were  at  one 
time  as  many  as  fifty-three,  we  have  lost  such 
picturesque  names  as  'The  Indian  Queen,' 
6 Grape,'  'Conestoga  Waggon,'  ' Doctor  Frank- 
lin,' 'Golden  Fleece,'  and  'Earl  of  Chatham.' 
By  the  way,  this  latter  well-painted  sign  still 
preserved,  is  a  good  example  of  the  early  work 
of  Jacob  Eichholtz,  one  of  our  best  Lancaster 
artists.  The  Bull's  Head,  which  once  stood  at 
the  corner  of  East  King  and  Christian  Streets, 
was  kept  by  the  artist's  mother,  Catharine  Eich- 
holtz, whose  license  gave  her  permission  'to 
sell  rum  by  the  small.'  So,  quite  naturally, 
Jacob  Eichholtz  began  by  painting  tavern 
signs,  although  he  afterwards  painted  portraits 
of  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
his  time." 

"Where  did  he  learn  his  art?"  I  asked. 

"When  Sully  was  in  Lancaster,  in  1808, 
painting  Governor  Snyder,  he  gave  Eichholtz 
some  instruction  in  painting.  In  view  of  the 
celebrity  gained  by  Eichholtz  later,  Sully 's  criti- 
cisms seem  ungenerous.  He  said,  'Eichholtz 
was  then  employing  all  his  leisure  hours,  stolen 
from  the  manufacture  of  tea-kettles  and  coffee 

67 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

pans,  in  painting.  His  attempts  were  hideous. 
He  kindly  offered  me  the  use  of  his  painting 
room,  which  I  gladly  accepted,  and  gave  him 
during  my  stay  in  Lancaster  all  the  information 
I  could  impart.  When  I  saw  his  portraits  a  few 
years  afterwards  (in  the  interim  he  had  visited 
and  copied  Stuart),  I  was  much  surprised  and 
gratified.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Eichholtz  would 
have  made  a  first-rate  painter  had  he  begun 
early  in  life,  with  the  usual  advantages. '  ' ' 

The  influence  of  Gilbert  Stuart  upon  the 
style  of  Eichholtz  is  much  more  marked  than 
that  of  Sully,  and  those  who  had  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  a  collection  of  paintings  by  Lancaster 
artists,  held  in  1912,  were  impressed  by  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  work  of  Eichholtz  as  well  as  by 
his  great  industry.  Here  were  portraits  of 
General  John  Steele,  James  Buchanan,  William 
Jenkins,  of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  and  of  such  other 
noted  citizens  as  the  Franklins,  Yeates,  Stein- 
mans,  Frazers,  Reigarts,  Mayers,  and  Jacobs. 

Mr.  Hensel  says  that  it  was  only  when  his 
fellow-townsman,  "the  late  Hon.  Thomas  JL 
Burrowes,  became  conspicuous  in  state  politics 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  under 
Governor  Eitner,  that  Eichholtz  got  his  right 
place  as  painter  at  'the  Republican  Court'  in 
Harrisburg. ' '  Portraits  by  Eichholtz  are  in 
many  galleries  and  museums  to-day,  and  are 
much  prized  heirlooms  in  numerous  private 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

families.  In  view  of  his  limited  opportunities, 
the  success  of  this  Lancaster  boy,  who  began 
life  as  a  coppersmith,  seems  very  remarkable. 

This  old  town  was  the  home  of  other  artists, 
among  them  of  Robert  Fulton,  whose  fame  as 
an  inventor  quite  eclipsed  his  work  as  an  artist. 
Some  afternoon  we  shall  motor  down  to  his 
birthplace  near  Quarryville. 

At  the  corner  of  Prince  Street,  our 
Antiquary  pointed  out  to  us  the  Moravian 
graveyard,  telling  us  that  many  Moravians 
settled  here  and  in  Lititz  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  among  them  such  leading  families 
as  the  Steinmans. 

"In  this  cemetery,"  he  said,  "are  buried 
Colonel  "William  Henry  and  his  wife.  You  may 
remember  that  he  is  one  of  several  claimants 
to  the  honor  of  having  made  the  first  practical 
steamboat.  However  that  may  be,  two  other 
Pennsylvanians  worked  upon  this  invention, 
and  William  Henry  seems  to  have  received  his 
first  idea  of  the  propelling  of  boats  by  steam 
from  the  inventions  of  Watt  when  in  England 
in  1760.  John  Fitch,  who  made  his  experiments 
on  the  Neshaminy  over  in  Bucks  County,  and 
Robert  Fulton,  when  a  lad,  visited  William 
Henry's  home  and  both  doubtless  owe  some  thing 
of  value  to  his  experiments."  It  is  interesting, 
however,  to  realize  that  the  first  workable 
steamboat  came  from  Pennsylvania,  even  if 

69 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

the  brains  of  three  of  her  sons  were  engaged  in 
its  evolution. 

Colonel  Henry  was  a  distinguished  man  and 
a  useful  citizen,  quite  aside  from  his  work  on 
the  steamboat,  as  he  held  many  important  posi- 
tions, was  Armorer  for  the  Braddock  and  Forbes 
expeditions,  member  of  Assembly  and  Treas- 
urer of  Lancaster  County  from  1777  until  his 
death  in  1786,  when  his  wife  succeeded  him  in 
this  responsible  office.  David  Eittenhouse  was 
Treasurer  of  Pennsylvania  at  this  time,  and 
many  letters,  still  preserved,  prove  the  confi- 
dence reposed  by  him  in  this  able  woman  treas- 
urer. Indeed,  all  who  knew  her  spoke  of  Mrs. 
William  Henry 'as  a  woman  of  great  ability. 

An  amusing  little  story  is  told  of  her  first 
meeting  with  her  future  husband,  when  she  was 
Miss  Ann  Wood,  at  a  tea-party  given  at  his 
house  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  Bickman,  to 
which  Ann  and  two  other  girls  were  invited. 
Mrs.  Bickman,  who  evidently  had  in  mind  her 
brother's  settling  for  life,  had  a  broom  placed 
across  the  hall  through  which  the  three  girls 
would  pass  on  their  way  from  the  garden  to  the 
tea-table.  When  summoned  to  tea,  the  first 
damsel,  when  she  reached  the  broom,  pushed  it 
aside;  the  second  stepped  over  it;  but  the  third, 
wise  and  orderly  Ann  Wood,  picked  it  up  and  set 
it  in  its  place. 

Young  Henry,   believing   that   order   was 

70 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

earth's  as  well  as  heaven's  first  law,  made  up 
his  mind,  then  and  there,  to  marry  Ann  Wood, 
which  he  did  soon  after.  "We  may  well  believe 
that  the  mothers  of  old  Lancaster  pointed  many 
a  moral  with  the  story  of  Ann  Wood  and  the 
fateful  broom. 

From  Prince  Street  we  made  our  way  to 
Chestnut  Street  and  to  the  site  of  the  old  hos- 
telry long  known  as  the  Cadwell  House, 
now  the  Brunswick,  from  whose  balcony 
three  Presidents  of  the  United  States  have 
spoken,  James  Buchanan,  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Theodore  Eoosevelt. 

To  Mr.  J.  M.  W.  Geist,  of  the  Daily  Evening 
Express,  we  are  indebted  for  an  account  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  visit  to  Lancaster,  on  the  22nd  of 
February,  1861. 

"A  booming  of  cannon  welcomed  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  his  party  to  Lancaster  and  announced  his 
approach.  He  took  a  look  at  the  environs  from 
the  outside  platform  as  the  car  crossed 
the  Conestoga. 

"Though  in  mid- winter,  the  day  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's arrival  was  perfect  as  to  weather  of  win- 
ter sunshine ;  and  the  people  who  thronged  the 
station,  Chestnut  and  North  Queen  Streets,  suf- 
fered no  discomfort  while  they  waited  for  hours. 
Hundreds  of  Lancastrians  had  gone  to  Harris  - 
burg  for  the  ceremonies  there,  including  the 
local  military,  the  Fencibles  and  the  Jones  ar- 

71 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

tillery  of  Safe  Harbor,  the  American  and  Union 
Fire  Companies,  'with  banners,  bands  and 
men/  Every  square  foot  of  space  surrounding 
the  Cadwell  House  was  taken  up  with  men  and 
women  on  their  feet.  The  front  windows  were 
crowded,  rooms  having  been  engaged  for  days 
in  advance.  The  Jackson  Rifles,  under  Captain 
H.  A.  Hambright,  policed  the  situation,  and 
when  Colonel  Dickey  escorted  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the 
balcony,  with  Big  Pete  Fordney  as  bodyguard, 
a  broad  lane  was  opened  to  let  them  pass 
through  the  crowd  to  the  Cadwell  House.  Here 
from  the  balcony  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  briefly,  as 
was  his  wont;  indeed,  his  time  was  limited  to  a 
few  minutes,  and  he  added  with  his  usual  wis- 
dom, 'The  more  a  man  speaks  in  these  days, 
the  less  he  is  understood.  As  Solomon  says, 
there  is  a  time  for  all  things,  and  the  present 
is  a  time  for  silence.'  In  a  few  days,  he  said, 
the  time  would  be  here  for  him  to  speak  officially, 
and  he  would  then  endeavor  to  speak  plainly  in 
regard  to  the  Constitution  and  the  liberties  of 
the  American  people.  Until  he  should  so  speak, 
he  deemed  it  unnecessary  to  say  more.  He 
would  again  greet  his  friends  most  heartily,  and 
at  the  same  time  bid  them  farewell. 

"•So  carefully  was  the  schedule  time  observed 
that  the  arrival  and  departure  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
seemed  to  those  present  like  the  shifting  scenes 
of  a  panorama  to  be  remembered  like  a  dream. 

72 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  OLD  TOWN 

Before  leaving  this  region,  Mr.  Lincoln  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  see  the  home  of  his  prede- 
cessor in  office,  and  Wheatland,  the  home  of  Mr. 
Buchanan,  was  pointed  out  to  him,  this  side  of 
Dillersville.  At  Mount  Joy,  Brady,  the  axe- 
maker,  got  special  recognition,  because  Mr.  Lin- 
coln knew  his  cutlery."  In  Elizabethtown  and 
Middletown  enthusiastic  crowds  cheered  the 
train,  and  so  his  party  sped  on  to  Harrisburg, 
where  another  warm  welcome  awaited  them. 
Those  who  are  able  to  recall  incidents  of  these 
visits  of  the  President-elect  to  Philadelphia, 
Lancaster,  Harrisburg  and  other  towns  on  the 
route  must  regard  them  in  the  retrospect  as  the 
opening  scenes  of  a  great  drama,  which  was  later 
enacted  before  them,  a  drama  destined  to  end  in 
that  woeful  tragedy  at  Ford's  Theatre  in  Wash- 
ington on  the  evening  of  April  14,  1865. 


IV 
LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

LAX  CASTER  is  a  good  place  to  go  from  as  well 
as  to  come  to,  as  there  are  so  many  points  of 
interest  within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles  which 
beckon  to  us  across  good  roads  and  by  several 
trolley  lines. 

One  afternoon  we  devoted  to  a  trip  to 
Quarryville  and  the  Fulton  House,  in  Fulton 
Township.  We  had  seen  the  house  of  the  elder 
Eobert  Fulton,  on  Centre  Square,  and  were  now 
in  quest  of  the  house  in  which  Eobert,  the  in- 
ventor, was  born.  Our  way  was  by  the  old 
Baltimore  road,  through  a  rich  corn-  and  to- 
bacco-growing country.  Our  Antiquary,  Mr. 
Henderson,  was  with  us  and  gave  us  interesting 
details  of  the  reunion  at  the  Fulton  House  in 
August,  1907,  to  celebrate  the  successful  trip  of 
Eobert  Fulton 's  Clermont  on  the  Hudson  Eiver 
a  hundred  years  earlier.  Although  he  had  ac- 
companied the  delegation  from  the  Historical 
Society  of  Lancaster  that  had  planned  this  cen- 
tennial celebration,  Mr.  Henderson  was  not 
quite  sure  as  to  the  best  road  to  take  from 
Quarryville,  so  we  stopped  at  this  little  town 
to  make  inquiries,  and  in  the  hope  of  securing 
a  photograph  of  the  Fulton  House.  We  were 

74 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

directed  to  the  barber  of  the  town,  who  was  said 
to  have  taken  a  photograph  of  the  home  on  the 
day  of  the  celebration.  The  barber,  smiling  and 
rosy-cheeked,  left  his  client  unshaven  and  un- 
shorn, while  he  explained  that  he  could  not  lay 
his  hands  on  his  photograph,  but  that  we  might 
find  one  at  the  newspaper  office.  We  then  mo*- 
tored  to  the  office  of  the  Sun,  but  not  meeting 
with  success  there  we  were  obliged  to  depend 
upon  Kathleen's  kodak,  a  slim  dependence,  she 
said,  as  the  sky  was  overcast  and  she  was  not 
an  expert  in  time  exposures. 

We  reached  the  goal  of  our  quest  soon  after, 
as  the  Fulton  House  is  only  seven  miles  from 
Quarryville  and  about  twenty  miles  south  of 
Lancaster.  The  house  stands  on  the  right-hand 
side  of  the  road ;  we  knew  it  by  the  bronze  tablet 
on  the  front  and  by  the  huge  buttonwood  tree 
that  overshadows  it  on  one  side.  The  original 
stone  building  has  been  added  to,  but  the  tablet 
on  which  are  recorded  Robert  Fulton's  services 
to  his  country  and  to  the  world  distinguishes  the 
old  building  from  later  additions. 

We  were  cordially  received  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Swift  and  his  family,  the  owners  of  the  house, 
who  showed  us  some  of  the  rooms.  In  the  sec- 
ond-floor room  over  the  parlor  Robert  was  born 
in  November,  1765.  A  year  after  his  birth  his 
father  sold  the  house  and  surrounding  land  to 
Joseph  Swift,  of  Philadelphia,  and  removed 
with  his  family  to  Lancaster. 

75 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

We  were  interested  to  hear  that  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Jo;seph  Swift  who  bought  this  old 
house  from  the  elder  Fulton  are  still  living  here. 
The  present  owner,  another  Joseph  Swift,  in- 
troduced us  to  several  members  of  his  family, 
among  them  a  young  girl,  the  fifth  in  descent 
from  the  Joseph  Swift  who  first  came  to  the 
Fulton  House. 

As  we  crossed  the  Conowingo  and  motored 
homeward,  after  securing  as  good  a  photograph 
as  could  be  had  between  showers,  we  had  a  curi- 
ous sensation  of  having  taken  a  trip  into  the 
eighteenth  century,  so  unchanged  is  this  tiny 
village,  with  its  post-office,  its  country  store  and 
the  old  stone  house,  which  gives  to  it  its  sole 
claim  to  distinction.  August,  1907,  must  have 
been  a  gala  day  in  Little  Britain  Township, 
when  a  large  company  from  the  surrounding 
country,  from  Lancaster  and  nearby  towns,  and 
from  New  York  and  other  cities  equally  remote, 
came  here  to  honor  the  memory  of  the  great 
genius  who  was  born  in  this  little  stone  house. 

We  next  hear  of  Fulton,  at  the  age  of  eight, 
as  a  pupil  at  the  school  of  Caleb  Johnson,  a 
Quaker  pedagogue,  his  widowed  mother  pre- 
viously having  taught  him  to  read.  The  guid- 
ance of  this  bright  boy  up  the  steep  path  of 
learning  could  not  have  been  an  unalloyed  pleas- 
ure, as  he  sometimes  came  to  his  classes  with 
poorly  prepared  lessons,  for  which  he  excused 

76 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

himself  by  saying  that  his  head  "was  so  full  of 
original  ideas  that  there  was  no  vacant  chamber 
in  it  for  the  storing  away  of  the  contents  of 
dusty  books."  One  may  well  imagine  the  effect 
of  this  speech  upon  the  teacher;  but  some  meas- 
ure of  egotism  may  be  pardoned  on  the  part  of 
a  boy  who  at  nine  made  himself  an  excellent 
pencil  out  of  a  bit  of  lead,  who  at  thirteen  in- 
vented a  skyrocket  for  the  celebration  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1778,  and  a  year  later  operated 
a  fishing  boat,  with  paddle  wheels,  on  the  Cono- 
wingo,  near  his  birthplace,  whither  he  seems  to 
have  returned,  from  time  to  time,  to  visit  the 
Swift  family.  At  seventeen  Fulton  was  paint- 
ing portraits  and  miniatures  in  his  own  town  and 
in  Philadelphia,  and  quite  successfully,  as  ap- 
pears from  some  charming  miniatures  now  in 
art  galleries  and  in  private  hands.  Among  Ful- 
ton 's  miniatures  are  those  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Wilkes  Kittera,  Margaret  and  Clementina  Boss, 
Samuel  Beach,  Mrs.  David  Hayfield  Conyng- 
ham,  and  of  his  lifelong  friend,  the  Honorable 
Joel  Barlow,  author  of  "The  Columbiad." 

Fulton 's  story  reads  like  a  romance,  and  yet, 
as  Mr.  Henderson  reminds  us,  it  is  a  story  of 
hard  work  and  great  perseverance,  as  well  as  of 
the  triumphs  of  genius.  At  twenty-one  Fulton 
had  accumulated  enough  money  from  his  paint- 
ing to  buy  a  house  and  farm  in  Washington 
County,  Pennsylvania,  in  which  he  established 

77 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

his  mother  and  sisters  before  sailing  for  Eng- 
land to  study  under  Benjamin  West. 

Although  quite  successful  as  an  artist,  Rob- 
ert Fulton  was  first,  last  and  always  an  inventor, 
and  while  in  England  he  spent  more  than  a  year 
in  Birmingham,  where  he  improved  his  knowl- 
edge of  mechanics  in  the  great  workshops  of 
that  city.  Mr.  Henderson  says  that  although 
Fulton's  work  on  the  steamboat  has  been  given 
full  recognition,  perhaps  even  more  than  his 
share  of  credit  in  this  line  having  been  accorded 
him,  as  his  success  was  the  result  of  a  practical 
application  of  principles  discovered  by  such  pre- 
decessors as  Newcomen,  Watts,  Jouffroy  and 
Symington  abroad,  and  William  Henry  and 
John  Fitch  in  Pennsylvania,  for  some  reason 
full  recognition  has  not  been  given  him  for  his 
work  on  the  submarine,  or  plunger,  as  he  called 
it.  In  this  plunger  he  sank  vessels  on  the  coast 
of  France  and  on  the  Thames;  it  was,  in  fact, 
the  submarine  of  to-day,  less  many  improve- 
ments made  by  Mr.  Simon  Lake  and  others.  It 
should,  however,  be  said  to  Robert  Fulton's 
credit  that  his  vision  for  the  submarine,  like  that 
of  Mr.  Lake,  was  for  the  protection  of  our  coast. 

In  common  with  many  inventors,  Fulton  pos- 
sessed a  statesman-like  grasp  of  public  affairs, 
and  his  most  important  inventions  were  planned 
to  meet  an  increasing  need  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  With  prophetic  vision,  he  fore- 

78 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

saw  what  steam  navigation  would  mean  to  the 
world,  and  looking  still  further  into  the  future, 
he  realized  that  with  the  increase  of  commercial 
exchange  between  the  nations  there  would  arise 
sharp  competition,  rivalries  and  jealousies, 
which  would  end  in  war  sooner  or  later,  and  that 
with  its  extended  seaboard  the  United  States 
would  be  greatly  in  need  of  some  adequate  coast 
protection,  hence  his  hopes  for  his  submarine, 
which  was  designed,  as  he  said,  "to  place  our 
harbours  and  coast  beyond  the  power  of  foreign 
insults. ' '  Such  insults  and  some  casualties  hav- 
ing come  to  our  shores  in  the  last  years,  we 
realize  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  this  Penn- 
sylvania inventor. 

"Rather  odd,"  said  Mr.  Henderson,  after 
speaking  of  Fulton's  dream  of  his  submarine, 
"that  someone  motoring  through  Pennsylvania, 
a  few  years  since,  should  have  remarked  that 
'nothing  had  ever  been  invented  in  this  state.' 
he  evidently  left  Franklin  out  of  the  count 
and  Godfrey  and  Hopkinson,  to  say  nothing  of 
Evans,  Fitch,  Henry  and  many  more." 

' '  If  that  remark  had  been  made  in  Connecti- 
cut or  Massachusetts  about  either  of  those 
states,  the  man  who  made  it  would  have  been 
tarred  and  feathered!"  said  Kathleen,  rousing 
up  from  a  brown  study. 

"We  are  more  peaceful  in  our  methods  here 
in  Pennsylvania,  Mrs.  Davis,  having  come  of 

6  79 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Quakers,  Mennonites,  Amish,  Dunkers  and  other 
non-resisting  peoples,  and  the  fact  that  some 
man  made  this  incorrect  statement  does  not  take 
away  from  the  credit  of  Pennsylvania. ' ' 

"That  is  a  very  philosophical  way  of  look- 
ing at  it,"  said  Kathleen;  "but  I  like  people  to 
have  credit  for  what  they  do,  and  your  story, 
Mr.  Henderson,  has  given  me  another  reason 
for  spreading  abroad  every  good  thing  that  I 
hear  about  Pennsylvania." 

By  this  time  we  had  reached  Lancaster  and 
were  motoring  around  the  Square  to  have  an- 
other look  at  the  house  where  the  elder  Fulton 
had  his  tailor  shop  and  where  our  Pennsylvania 
inventor  spent  his  early  years. 

Our  next  jaunt  was  to  Ephrata  and  Lititz, 
and  as  we  hoped  to  include  a  visit  to  the  mines 
at  Cornwall  and  to  some  old  towns  in  Lebanon 
County,  we  set  forth  in  the  morning. 

Although  the  town  of  Ephrata  is  sufficiently 
ancient  to  be  interesting,  and  can  still  boast  some 
of  the  houses  of  the  original  German  and  Swiss 
settlers,  the  object  of  our  pilgrimage  was 
not  the  prosperous  modern  town,  with  its  large 
shops  and  hotels,  but  the  little  old  village  once 
known  as  "Kloster"  or  Dunkerstown.  This 
community  of  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Cocalico  Creek,  the  Serpents 
Den  of  the  Delawares,  was  established  about 
1732  by  John  Conrad  Beissel,  a  baker  from 

80 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

Eberbach,  Germany.  Beissel  had  embraced  the 
doctrines  of  Alexander  Mack,  who  advocated 
celibacy  and  the  observance  of  the  seventh  day 
of  the  week  instead  of  the  first,  which  latter  was 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  settlement.  The 
village  is  quaint  and  interesting,  with  its  small 
frame  houses.  The  Saal  and  Sisters'  House 
are  picturesque  and  individual,  and  with  their 
high-pitched  red  roofs  and  small  windows,  made 
us  think  of  old  buildings  in  Nuremburg  and 
other  ancient  Bavarian  towns.  Bethania,  the 
Brothers'  House,  has  been  removed;  but  we 
were  taken  through  Saron,  the  Sisters'  House, 
and,  as  it  chanced,  by  a  young  girl,  a  fine 
husky  specimen. 

"Fasting  has  evidently  not  been  her  portion 
here  below,"  whispered  Kathleen,  as  our  cice- 
rone with  difficulty  passed  sidewise  through  the 
straight  and  narrow  doorway,  only  sixteen  and 
a  half  inches  wide,  the  widest  being  only  eighteen 
inches  wide.  Mr.  Henderson  was  so  much 
amused  over  this  performance,  and  by  the  con- 
trast between  Kathleen's  dainty  slenderness 
and  the  young  girl's  generous  proportions  that 
he  was  obliged  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  the 
window,  where  he  stood  with  his  back  to  us  gaz- 
ing out  upon  the  landscape.  He  is  really  a  very 
human  sort  of  Antiquarian,  and  we  shall  miss 
him  when  our  journeys  take  us  farther  afield; 
at  least,  I  shall  miss  him;  Kathleen  is  very  non- 
si 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

committal  on  the  subject  of  Mr.  Henderson. 
One  day  she  is  very  gracious  to  him,  and  again 
quite  the  reverse ;  but,  as  our  old  coachman  used 
to  say,  "Widders  is  unsartin'  like  and  hard  to 
please. "  Through  the  little  narrow  doorway 
we  passed  into  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  sisters ; 
each  one  had  a  tiny  room,  with  ia  narrow  wooden 
bench  for  a  bed  and  a  block  of  wood  for  a  pillow. 
We  all  exclaimed  over  the  discomfort  of  such 
a  bed,  and  asked  why  the  sisters  were  treated 
so  badly.  '  '  So  they  wouldn  't  be  borne  to  heaven 
on  flowery  beds  of  ease,"  replied  our  conduc- 
tress, as  if  repeating  a  lesson  learned  by  heart. 

There  was  no  furniture  in  this  small  room, 
only  a  few  hooks  for  clothes  and  a  little  wall 
cabinet  for  a  Bible,  hymn-book  and  other  per- 
sonal possessions. 

"No  flowery  beds  of  ease  here,"  exclaimed 
Kathleen.  "It  must  have  been  a  living  death; 
a  convent  seems  luxurious  in  comparison  with 
this,  and  then  there  is  some  romance  and  beauty 
about  the  Catholic  religion  and  the  life  of  a 
nun.  Were  these  sisters  allowed  to  marry?" 

Our  conductress  did  not  know,  and  Mr.  Hen- 
derson said  that  the  Society  did  not  encourage 
matrimony  in  early  times ;  but  if  any  of  the  mem- 
bers wished  to  marry,  the  newly  married  couple 
was  allowed  to  occupy  a  cottage  for  two  years, 
no  longer,  and  on  leaving  the  settlement  the 
husband  and  wife  were  compelled  to  sign  a  re- 

82 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

lease  of  all  their  interests  in  the  estate,  receiv- 
ing for  themselves  five  pounds  each. 

Not  an  encouragement  to  either  matrimony 
or  riotous  living;  but  those  were  days  of  great 
simplicity,  and  this  was  an  order  in  which  sim- 
ple living  was  considered  a  religious  duty.  Our 
conductress  told  us  that  the  brothers  and  sisters 
went  without  shoes,  except  in  extremely  cold 
weather,  ate  no  meat,  and  had  no  fire  except  in 
the  assembly  rooms.  One  of  these  rooms  was 
called  the  writing  room,  and  was  set  apart  for 
the  execution  of  ornamental  pen  work,  of  which 
examples  are  still  to  be  found  on  the  walls  of 
some  of  the  sisters'  rooms.  The  sisters  Anas- 
tasia,  Iphigenia  and  Zenobia  excelled  in  this 
ornamental  writing.  We  were  glad  to  think  that 
these  poor  '  '  shut-ins ' '  had  even  this  mild  amuse- 
ment to  vary  the  monotony  of  their  cheerless 
lives.  Mr.  Henderson  reminded  us  that  music 
was  assiduously  cultivated,  and  the  singing 
under  Beissel,  whose  monastic  name  was  Father 
Freidsam,  drew  many  visitors  to  Ephrata  at 
one  time. 

"I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was  very  mournful 
music, "  said  Kathleen. 

"Yes,  a  tourist,  in  describing  it  in  a  letter 
to  Governor  John  Penn,  spoke  of  the  small, 
sweet,  shrill  voices  of  the  women  which  thrilled 
him  to  the  very  soul.  This,  with  their  pale  faces 
and  picturesque  white  clothing,  made  these 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

singers  appear  like  ghosts,  and  he  himself  felt 
as  if  he  were  in  the  world  of  spirits,  and  the  ob- 
jects before  him  ethereal.7' 

The  members  of  the  community  had  other 
outlets  for  their  energies,  for  in  addition  to  their 
agricultural  pursuits,  excellent  paper  was  made 
at  Ephrata,  and  a  printing  press  was  early 
established  here.  Many  of  their  books,  Mr. 
Henderson  told  us,  had  been  lost;  but  some  fine 
examples  are  to  be  found  in  Philadelphia  among 
the  treasures  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  in  Allentown,  where  there  is  a 
Martyr  Book,  a  beautiful  example  of  Ephrata 
printing,  dated  1748,  the  largest  book  printed  in 
Pennsylvania  up  to  that  time.  So  much  paper- 
making  and  printing  were  done  here  that,  before 
the  battle  of  Germantown,  three  wagon-loads 
of  books,  in  sheets,  were  pressed  and  taken  away 
for  cartridges.  In  addition  to  this  involuntary 
service,  the  peace-loving  community  at  Ephrata 
rendered  active  service  to  the  country  during 
the  Eevolution,  as  one  of  their  buildings  was 
turned  into  a  hospital,  and  here,  after  the  battle 
of  Brandywine,  over  four  hundred  soldiers  were 
cared  for  by  the  good  sisters.  Mr.  Eupp  says 
that  these  wounded  soldiers  were  attended  by 
Doctors  Yerkel,  Scott  and  Harrison,1  and  we 
may  be  sure  that  they  were  cared  for  with  great 
tenderness  by  the  good  sisters.  The  arrival  of 

1 "  History  of  Lancaster  and  York  Counties,"  by  I.  Daniel 
Rupj>. 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

these  young  soldiers,  sad  as  was  the  case  of 
many  of  them,  must  have  proved  a  godsend  to 
the  sisters,  as  it  brought  a  new  interest  into 
their  lives  and  supplied  an  outlet  for  the  moth- 
erly instinct  that  is  to  be  found  in  the  heart  of 
every  good  woman. 

We  were  not  tempted  to  linger  long  in  the 
Sisters '  House,  for  even  on  this  June  day  there 
was  a  chill  dampness  in  the  rooms,  and  we  were 
glad  to  leave  them  and  go  out  into  the  sunshine 
of  the  little  old  graveyard,  which,  Kathleen  said, 
seemed  cheerful  by  comparison,  for  here,  at 
least,  the  troubles  of  the  good  sisters  ended. 
Upon  the  tombstones  we  found  a  number  of  old 
Lancaster  County  names,  and  one  lot  which 
interested  us  was  marked  "For  Fahnestock 
Tribe,'7  the  Fahnestocks  being,  like  Beissel,  the 
Eckerlins,  Ludwig  Hacker  and  Peter  Miller,  in- 
fluential and  honored  members  of  the  com- 
munity. Peter  Miller  was  a  cultivated  man  and 
so  good  a  linguist  that  he  translated  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence  into  seven  languages. 
He  was  well  known  outside  of  the  community, 
and  was  visited  by  David  Bittenhouse,  Count 
Zinzendorf  and  other  distinguished  men,  native 
and  foreign.  This  same  Peter  Miller  even  had 
a  poem  dedicated  to  him  by  a  young  Philadel- 
phia poet,  which  Mr.  Henderson  read  to  us  as 
we  sped  away  from  Ephrata  toward  Lititz. 
One  verse  of  the  rather  lengthy  effusion 

85 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

appealed  to  us   strongly  in  which  the  name- 
less writer  exclaimed: 

In  Ephrata's  deep  gloom  you  fix  your  seat, 
And  seek  Religion  in  the  dark  retreat; 
In  sable  weeds  you  dress  the  heav'n-born  maid, 
And  place  her  pensive  in  the  lonely  shade; 
Recluse,  unsocial,  you,  your  hours  employ, 
And  fearful,  banish  every  harmless  joy. 

A  somber  picture  was  this  of  life  at  Ephrata, 
but  at  the  best  it  could  not  have  been  very  cheer- 
ful, and  we  were  glad  to  speed  away  to  the  pleas- 
ant little  town  of  Lititz,  where  a  warm  welcome 
awaited  us  from  our  friends.  After  a  delightful 
luncheon  in  the  dining-room  of  Linden  Hall, 
which  is  still  called  by  older  residents  the  Young 
Ladies '  Seminary,  w©  set  forth,  with  our  hosts, 
to  see  the  town  and  learn  from  them  something 
of  its  history.  Our  first  visit  was,  of  course,  to 
the  large  square  on  which  are  the  Brethren's 
and  Sisters'  Houses,  separated  by  the  width  of 
the  square,  with  the  ancient  church  between 
them.  The  Sisters '  House  is  now  a  part  of  the 
Linden  Hall  Seminary.  These  fine  buildings 
were  put  up  by  Glaus  Coeller,  a  master-car- 
penter, who  lived  to  an  advanced  age  and  always 
contemplated  his  work  with  pride.  The  parson- 
age, once  the  Gemeinhaus,  is  also  on  this  central 
square,  which  with  its  green  grass  and  flowers 
adds  so  much  to  the  beauty  of  this  old-time  vil- 
lage, whose  founding,  we  were  told,  was  the 
result  of  a  visit  here  of  Count  Nicholas  Zinzen- 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

dorf  in  1742.  The  missionary  tour  in  Pennsyl- 
vania of  this  Saxon  nobleman,  the  patron  of  the 
renewed  church  of  the  United  Brethren,  or 
Mora vians,is  thus  spoken  of  by  a  local  historian : 
"  Count  Zinzendorf,  being  persecuted  in  Sax- 
ony by  such  as  disliked  his  attempts  to  form 
Christian  communities  which  were  not  to  be  gov- 
erned by  the  established  church  government  of 
that  kingdom,  directed  his  attention  and  Chris- 
tian eye  to  Pennsylvania,  where  at  a  previous 
period  a  great  number  of  German  Separatists 
had  emigrated. ' ' 

Count  Zinzendorf,  after  visiting  Bethlehem, 
made  a  tour  through  Berks  and  Lancaster 
Counties,  preaching  in  many  places.  It  is  said 
that  the  object  of  this  journey,  which  was  no 
light  undertaking  in  days  when  stage-coaches 
and  saddle-horses  were  the  only  means  of  trans- 
portation, was  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  to- 
gether under  beliefs  that  he  considered  vital  the 
various  religious  sects  scattered  all  over  this 
part  of  Pennsylvania.  That  Count  Zinzendorf 
did  not  meet  with  signal  success  in  this  laud- 
able undertaking  may  be  inferred  from  the  num- 
ber of  religious  sects  still  to  be  found  in  Lan- 
caster and  the  adjoining  counties.  He  did,  how- 
ever, establish  churches  in  Lancaster  and  Lititz, 
and  around  the  latter  soon  grew  up  Moravian 
schools  for  girls  and  boys.  That  for  boys,  now 
discontinued,  was  for  many  years  conducted 

87 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

under  the  able  principalship  of  John  Beck, 
father  of  the  distinguished  James  M.  Beck, 
sometime  Assistant  Attorney-General  of  the 
United  States. 

Early  members  of  the  Moravian  community 
at  Lititz  were  Christian  Alexander  Steinman 
and  his  wife,  who  emigrated  from  Dresden,  Sax- 
ony, to  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  and  after- 
wards removed  to  Lititz.  Mr.  Steinman,  who 
was  appointed  to  oversee  workmen  who  were 
to  build  the  saw  and  grist  mill  near  the  town 
in  the  stream  issuing  from  the  great  Lititz 
Spring,  is  the  ancestor  of  the  influential  Stein- 
man family  of  Lancaster.  The  late  Mr.  Andrew 
J.  Steinman,  a  well-known  lawyer  and  for  years 
editor  of  the  Intelligencer,  and  Mr.  George  M. 
Steinman,  president  of  the  Lancaster  County 
Historical  Society,  were  distinguished  members 
of  this  family  and  honored  citizens  of  Lancaster. 

This  community  at  Lititz,  like  that  at 
Ephrata,  turned  one  of  its  houses,  that  of  the 
Single  Brethren,  into  a  hospital  for  the  recep- 
tion of  wounded  and  ill  soldiers  during  the 
Eevolution.  Letters  are  still  preserved  among 
the  archives  which  one  of  the  physicians  in 
attendance  wrote  to  the  good  sisters  after  the 
hospital  had  removed  from  Lititz. 

Doctor  Brown,  writing  from  the  Yellow 
Springs,  Pennsylvania,  to  Sister  Betty  Langly, 
who  had  journeyed  all  the  way  from  Bethlehem 

88 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

to  help  in  the  work  of  nursing  the  soldiers,  said : 
"I  congratulate  you  and  all  the  members  of 
your  peaceful  society  on  the  prospect  we  now 
have  of  the  termination  of  war  and  bloodshed 
in  this  country,  and  that  we  shall  soon  be  re- 
stored again  to  that  tranquillity  and  domestic 
paradise  which  were  enjoyed  in  this  country 
in  its  infancy  before  it  had  become  considerable 
and  wealthy  enough  to  attract  the  attention  or 
excite  the  avarice  or  ambition  of  tyrannical 
princes  and  oppressive  luxurious  and  corrupted 
ministers  of  state. " 

To  Sister  Polly  Penry,  Doctor  Brown  wrote : 
"I  give  you  joy  of  having  your  place  restored 
again  to  its  primitive  quietness  by  the  removal 
of  so  heterogeneous  and  disorderly  set  of  guests 
as  our  soldiery  are  to  the  people  of  your  Society, 
and  I  hope  you  will  never  be  disturbed  in  like 
manner  agun."2  Very  courteous  letters  are 
these  and  doubtless  sincere;  but  I  dare  say  the 
sisters  missed  these  boys  upon  whom  they  lav- 
ished their  kindness,  when  the  hospital  was  re- 
moved from  Lititz. 

On  our  way  toward  Lebanon  and  the  Corn- 
wall mines,  we  passed  through  the  ancient  bor- 
ough of  Manheim  laid  out  by  Henry  William 
Stiegel  in  1762.  Manheim  seemed  to  us  rich  in 
churches  of  various  denominations,  and  we 
were  not  surprised  at  this  when  we  learned 

8 "  A  Century  of  Moravian  Sisters,"  by  Elizabeth  Lehman 
Myers. 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

how  generous  its  proprietor  was  in  giving 
land  for  religious  and  philanthropic  uses. 
It  is  said  that  he  gave  the  lot  upon  which 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  was  built, 
only  exacting  the  picturesque  rental  of  a  red 
rose  to  be  paid  yearly  on  demand.  This 
custom  and  also  the  name  of  the  town  was 
brought  from  older  lands.  In  speaking  of  this 
foreign  custom  of  the  giving  of  a  red  rose,  in 
lieu  of  rent,  Mrs.  M.  W.  Robinson  says  that  a 
certain  John  Page,  gentleman  of  Austin  Pryors, 
London,  having  been  granted  a  tract  of  land  in 
the  Conestoga  by  Thomas  and  Richard  Penn, 
empowered  his  attorneys  to  sell  portions  of  the 
said  tract  to  several  persons  for  the  rental  of 
"one  red  rose  to  be  paid  on  the  23rd  of  each 
June,  every  year  and  forever."  This  was  in 
1739,  forty  years  before  the  granting  of  the 
same  privileges  by  Baron  Stiegel. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  faults  and  fail- 
ings of  this  man  in  practical  affairs,  his  gener- 
osity was  unbounded.  In  speaking  of  his  brief, 
brilliant  career  as  an  ironmaster,  Mrs.  James 
M.  Longacre  says:  "He  for  years  supplied  his 
simple  country  neighbors  with  dazzling 
glimpses  of  the  pride  of  life ;  and  it  is  small  won- 
der that  they  should  consider  him  an  amazing 
and  marvelous  creature,  of  a  kind  not  usually 
abounding  among  Pennsylvania  Germans.  .  .  . 
Extravagant,  kindly  and  sanguine,  StiegePs  life 

90 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

for  some  years  now  was  outwardly  prosperous, 
and  his  period  of  ostentatious  living  came  to  its 
height.  He  provided  his  German  workmen 
with  musical  instruments,  which,  with  the  inborn 
musical  talent  of  the  race,  they  used  with  skill 
and  pleasure/73 

Mr.  Henderson  related  to  us  one  of  the  many 
stories  told  about  Stiegel,  which  explains  the 
use  to  which  the  musical  instruments  were  put 
by  the  music-loving  ironmaster.  It  is  said  that 
a  watchman  was  stationed  in  the  cupola  on  the 
top  of  his  house  at  the  corner  of  High  and 
Prussian  Streets,  whose  business  it  was  to  watch 
for  the  Baron's  return  from  Elizabeth  Furnace, 
and  when  he  was  seen  approaching  the  town  in 
his  coach  and  four  to  fire  a  salute.  Immedi- 
ately, upon  hearing  the  sound  of  the  cannon, 
the  people  flocked  to  the  house,  and  a  band  of 
music,  made  up  from  the  employes  of  the  fac- 
tory, proceeded  to  the  house-top,  and  the  Baron 
made  his  entrance  into  the  town  amidst  the 
firing  of  cannon,  the  sound  of  music  and  the 
cheers  of  the  inhabitants.4 

Being  a  conscientious  historian,  Mr.  Hender- 
son does  not  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this  story 
in  all  of  its  picturesque  details;  but  we  hope  it 
is  true,  as  it  is  pleasant  to  think  of  this  gen- 
erous and  kindly  man  entering  the  town  which 
he  had  founded  in  the  style  and  state  that  he 

8  "  Forges  and  Furnaces  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania." 
4  Ellis  and  Evans,  "  History  of  Lancaster  County,"  p.  607. 

91 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

enjoyed  and  to  the  sound  of  the  music  that  he 
loved,  as  misfortunes  overtook  him  early  and  the 
years  of  happiness  and  prosperity  were  brief 
as  they  were  brilliant.  In  consequence  of 
Stiegel 's  financial  difficulties,  he  was  obliged  to 
part  with  his  share  of  Elizabeth  Furnace  and 
other  properties,  the  former  to  Daniel  Benezet, 
who  afterwards  sold  it  to  Robert  Coleman. 

Stiegel  's  Manheim  residence  passed  through 
various  hands,  having  been  bought  first  by 
Michael  Diffenderfer  and  afterwards  by  Wil- 
liam Bauseman,  James  Jenkins  and  Henry 
Arndt.  Baron  Stiegel  also  owned  a  country 
home  at  Elizabeth  Furnace,  which  afterwards 
became  the  residence  of  Robert  Coleman,  and  it 
was  in  this  house  at  Elizabeth  Furnace  that  he 
entertained  General  Washington. 

Soon  after  leaving  Manheim,  a  bejautiful 
gateway  leading  into  spacious  and  well-wooded 
grounds  attracted  us,  and  suddenly  realizing 
that  we  were  at  the  entrance  to  Mount  Hope, 
we  turned  into  the  drive  and  motored  up  to  the 
house  under  the  overarching  trees.  It  was  a 
great  pleasure  to  see  the  old  mansion  again  and 
to  be  welcomed  by  its  hospitable  chatelaine. 
The  house  was  built  by  Henry  Bates  Grubb,  a 
direct  descendant  of  John  Grubb,  who  came  to 
Grubb 's  Landing  in  1669,  and  a  great-grandson 
of  Peter  Grubb,  who  discovered  the  great  iron 
mines  at  Cornwall.  This  house,  surrounded  by 

92 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

many  acres,  is  the  country  home  of  the  great- 
great-granddaughter  of  the  first  Peter  Grubb, 
Miss  Daisy  E.  B.  Grubb,  who  loves  every  stone 
in  the  old  mansion  and  exercises  here  its  tradi- 
tional hospitality.  After  a  stroll  through  the 
garden  with  its  famous  high  boxwood  borders, 
and  a  cheering  cup  of  tea  on  the  porch,  we  set 
forth  again  for  Lebanon,  once  called  Steitztown, 
after  its  founder.  Some  settlements  were  made 
here  as  early  as  1723 ;  but  the  town  was  not  regu- 
larly laid  out  until  1759. 

Of  the  place  itself,  with  its  interesting 
churches  and  other  buildings,  we  had  time  to 
see  little;  or  of  the  country  surrounding  it,  in 
which  members  of  the  Coleman  family  have 
their  beautiful  homes,  and  after  motoring 
through  its  principal  street  we  sped  away  to  the 
'  '  ore  hills, ' '  as  they  are  called  by  many  writers 
of  the  time,  a  few  miles  south  of  Lebanon.  Mr. 
Henderson  told  us  that  many  Hessian  prison- 
ers were  quartered  in  the  churches  of  Lebanon, 
and  those  lodged  in  the  Moravian  church  found 
themselves  particularly  well  placed,  as  they 
took  possession  of  the  violins  belonging  to  the 
church  and  alleviated  the  tedium  of  their  cap- 
tivity with  music  and  dancing. 

On  our  way  to  the  ore  banks  we  passed  by 
the  furnaces.  The  first  furnace  here  was  built 
by  Peter  Grubb,  who  at  the  time  of  his  death 
owned  over  nine  thousand  acres  of  land,  which 
he  left  to  his  sons,  Curtis  and  Peter.  On  this 

93 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

land  are  the  Cornwall  and  Hopewell  forges  and 
the  Cornwall  ore  mines  which  we  saw  to-day. 
Huge  seams  and  gashes  in  the  hills  revealed  the 
places  from  which  the  precious  ore  had  been 
taken,  and,  standing  above  the  ' '  Robesonia  Cut 
and  Hoist, ' '  we  could  see  the  great  depth  from 
which  the  ore  had  been  dug.  It  was  interesting 
to  have  even  this  rapid  survey  of  these  great 
mines  that  have  added  so  much  to  the  wealth 
and  importance  of  Pennsylvania.  Peter  Grubb 
was  sole  owner  of  the  Cornwall  banks  until  his 
death  in  1754,  when  it  became  the  property  of 
his  sons  Curtis  and  Peter,  and  finally  the  greater 
part  passed  into  the  hands  of  Robert  Coleman, 
as  did  everything  in  the  way  of  ore  and  iron 
in  this  part  of  the  world.  In  1798  Mr.  Coleman 
owned  all  of  the  Cornwall  bank,  except  one-sixth 
part,  which  Mr.  Henry  Bates  Grubb,  a  grand- 
son of  the  first  Peter  Grubb,  still  held.  Shot, 
shells,  cannon  and  stoves  for  the  Continental 
army  were  cast  at  Cornwall  furnace  by  the 
Grubb  brothers,  who  were  not  only  great  iron 
masters,  but  devoted  patriots  as  well.  Curtis 
and  Peter  Grubb  were  both  colonels  of  militia 
in  the  Continental  army.  Eobert  Coleman 
served  in  one  of  the  militia  battalions,  besides 
being  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
1783  and  of  the  convention  that  framed  the 
State  Constitution. 

Even  this  long  June  day  was  too  short  for 
all  that  we  wished  to  see  in  this  interesting 

94* 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

region;  but  we  allowed  ourselves  a  half  hour 
for  old  Donegal,  an  early  Scotch-Irish  settle- 
ment and  stronghold  of  Presbyterianism  in 
Pennsylvania.  I  had  attended  the  yearly  reun- 
ions of  the  Donegal  Society  more  than  once  and 
been  entertained  at  Senator  Donald  Cameron's 
country  place  nearby  during  his  lifetime;  but 
Kathleen,  who  had  never  been  here,  expressed 
a  laudable  desire  to  visit  the  church  and  the 
tombs  of  her  ancestors  in  the  old  churchyard. 

Fortunately,  there  had  been  an  afternoon 
meeting,  and  we  were  able  to  enter  the  old 
sanctuary.  Severely  plain  as  it  is,  inside  and 
out,  it  is  in  excellent  taste,  and  the  proportions 
are  good,  as  is  the  case  in  many  old  churches. 
The  simple  dignity  of  these  old  buildings  is 
restful  and  would  be  quite  destroyed  by  elab- 
orate ornamentation.  We  found  all  the  graves 
in  the  old  churchyard  well  cared  for,  this  being 
one  of  the  good  works  of  the  Donegal  Society. 
Kathleen  shed  no  tears  over  the  graves  of  her 
great-great-grands. 

"Why  should  I  weep  over  them?"  she  asked. 
"If  the  old  dears  were  as  good  as  everyone  tells 
us  they  were,  they  have  been  happy  all  these 
years,  while  their  descendants  have  been  toiling 
and  moiling  in  this  weary  world  and  having  all 
the  misery  of  four  or  five  great  wars ! ' ' 

"Mrs.  Davis  is  a  philosopher!"  exclaimed 
Mr.  Henderson.  "But  she  does  not  look  as  if  she 
found  this  a  very  weary  world.  Come  and  see 

7  95 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

the  Witness  Tree,  the  wonderful  old  oak  under 
whose  spreading  branches  the  sons  of  Donegal 
dedicated  their  lives  to  the  service  of  their 
country,  early  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  It 
is  said  that  nearly  every  able-bodied  man  in 
the  Donegal  church  was  a  soldier  in  the  French 
and  Indian  wars  or  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Here  is  the  tablet  on  which  their  names 
are  recorded. " 

Standing  before  the  bronze  tablet  we  read 
the  name  of  Kathleen's  ancestor. 

"Here  are  the  names  of  forbears  of  many 
men  and  women  whom  we  know  or  know  of," 
said  Mr.  Henderson,  running  rapidly  over  the 
names  inscribed  upon  the  tablet.  "Here  is 
James  Stephenson,  who  lived  here  in  1770 ;  his 
granddaughter,  Sarah,  married  David  McKin- 
ley,and  their  grandson,  William  McKinley,  mar- 
ried Nancy  Allison,  and  it  is  their  son,  William, 
who  was  President  of  the  United  States.  From 
this  same  James  Stephenson  and  from  the  Wat- 
son line  a  number  of  noted  people  have  come, 
among  them  the  Hon.  Henry  P.  Fletcher.  Gen- 
eral John  Pershing,  a  soldier  of  whom  we  are 
all  proud,  is  descended  from  Captain  Andrew 
Boggs,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Donegal,  who 
served  in  the  French  and  Indian  War ;  and  from 
Hayes  ancestry  the  distinguished  Philadelphia 
surgeon,  Dr.  D.  Hayes  Agew,  is  descended. 
The  Cameron  family  also  came  from  Donegal 
pioneers,  and  Senator  Cameron  revealed  his 


LANCASTER  AND  LEBANON  TOWNS 

pride  in  them  by  calling  his  country  home  Done- 
gal. This  property  belonged  to  the  Stephen- 
sons,  but  Senator  Donald  Cameron  added  many 
jacres  to  the  estate  and  made  it  the  beautiful 
place  that  it  now  is.  Good  stock  were  these 
Scotch-Irish  settlers  to  come  from,  God-fearing, 
law-abiding,  patriotic  men  and  women !  These 
Scotch-Irish  ancestors  of  yours  are  people  to  be 
proud  of,  Mrs.  Davis. " 

"I  dare  say;  but  for  some  reason  I  have  al- 
ways taken  more  interest  in  my  English  Quaker 
ancestry.  Of  course,  I  knew  of  this  Scotch- 
Irish  settlement,  because  my  mother  often  spoke 
of  it;  but  most  people  talk  about  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch  as  if  they  occupied  the  land  to  the 
exclusion  of  everybody  else.  Since  I  have  been 
in  Lancaster  County  I  have  heard  of  enough 
different  nationalities  and  religious  denomina- 
tions to  make  my  head  spin. ' ' 

"Yes,  an  English  visitor  to  Lancaster  in 
early  times  'said,  'The  religions  that  prevail 
here  are  hardly  to  be  numbered, '  and  this  is  quite 
true,  but  to  call  people  Pennsylvania  Dutch 
is  a  misnomer,  Mrs.  Davis.  There  are  very  few 
Dutch  here,  but  no  end  of  Pennsylvania  Ger- 
mans; and,  after  all,  the  population  of  Lan- 
caster and  the  adjoining  counties  is  made  up  of 
mixed  races,  like  most  places  in  America.  To 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  county  a  number  of 
Welsh  settlers  came;  in  the  town  of  Lancaster 
there  were  a  number  of  English  who  established 

97 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

their  church  there,  and  the  Merinonites  who 
abound  all  through  this  region  are  many  of  them 
of  Swiss  descent, chiefly  from  Zurich  and  Berne; 
they,  like  the  Puritans,  Quakers  and  many 
others,  left  their  homes  in  the  old  world  and 
crossed  the  ocean  for  freedom  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
sciences. These  Swiss  Mennonites  are  said  to 
be  the  first  white  settlers  in  Lancaster  County, 
and  in  1910  a  very  interesting  commemoration 
was  held  to  celebrate  the  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  their  settlement.  A  nine-ton  boulder 
was  placed  in  front  of  the  old  Mennonite  church- 
yard near  Willow  Street,  Lancaster,  and  ser- 
vices were  held  there.  At  the  ceremony  of  the 
unveiling  of  the  boulder  and  tablet,  addresses 
were  made  by  Hon.  John  H.  Landis,  Professor 
Oscar  Kuhns,  Hon.  Amos  H.  Mylin,  Mr.  John  A. 
Coyle  and  other  descendants  of  the  Mennonite 
settlers.  Mr.  H.  Frank  Eshleman  and  Mr.  Dif- 
f enderffer,  the  chairman,  and  some  of  the  other 
speakers  emphasized  the  fact  that  these  early 
settlers  were  tolerant  and  wished  all  other  re- 
ligious people  to  enjoy  the  liberty  in  worship 
that  they  had  found  in  the  new  world." 

Being  mounted  on  his  hobby,  our  Antiquary 
cantered  along  gaily  until  we  had  passed  through 
Landisville,  and  the  twinkling  lights  before 
us  showed  us  that  we  were  near  Lancaster  and 
the  end  of  our  interesting  day  among  antiquities. 


V 

TO  GETTYSBURG  BY  WAY  OF  COLUMBIA 
AND  YORK 

ON  our  way  to  Columbia  we  stopped 
at  Wheatland,  the  old  home  of  President 
Buchanan,  a  comfortable,  spacious  house,  sur- 
rounded by  a  lawn  filled  with  fine  trees.  This 
house,  with  its  wide,  hospitable  doorway  and 
long,  low  fagade  equipped  with  many  windows, 
was  once  owned  by  Mr.  Potter  and  afterwards 
was  the  summer  home  of  the  Hon.  William  M. 
Meredith,  of  Philadelphia,  who  sold  it  to  Mr. 
Buchanan  in  1848.  As  we  stood  on  the  portico 
at  the  entrance  and  looked  out  on  the  lawn,  with 
its  many  oaks,  larches  and  evergreens,  or  at  the 
end  of  the  broad  hall  enjoyed  the  charming 
view  of  woodlands  and  a  fertile  valley  beyond, 
we  realized  what  an  ideal  home  this  was  for  a 
statesman  to  retire  to  when  the  cares  of  office 
were  over.  At  the  end  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  term 
of  office  as  President  of  the  United  States  he 
came  back  to  this  delightful  home,  escorted  by 
some  of  his  friends,  prominent  citizens  of  Lan- 
caster, among  them  the  Hon.  Hugh  M.  North  and 
W.  U.  Hensel,  Esq.  To  these  gentlemen  Mr. 
Buchanan  expressed  his  gratification  over  this 
evidence  of  their  regard  and  at  the  same  time 

99 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

spoke  of  his  great  pleasure  at  returning  to  his 
home  near  Lancaster. 

From  Wheatland,  a  few  years  later,  Mr. 
Buchanan's  niece, Miss  Harriet  Lane, went  forth 
as  the  bride  of  Mr.  Henry  E.  Johnston,  of  Balti- 
more. The  devoted  uncle's  expressions  to  his 
niece  on  the  subject  of  her  approaching  mar- 
riage are  so  affectionate  and  yet  so  formal  and 
old-fashioned  that  we  were  glad  to  be  reminded 
of  them  by  our  Antiquary,  who  always  has  some 
interesting  sidelight  to  throw  upon  whatever 
subject  may  interest  us.  In  writing  to  Miss 
Lane  a  short  time  before  her  marriage,  Mr. 
Buchanan  said:  "You  have  now  made  your  un- 
biased choice,  and  from  the  character  of  Mr. 
Johnston  I  anticipate  for  you  a  happy  marriage, 
because  I  believe,  from  your  own  good  sense, 
you  will  conform  to  your  conductor  and  make 
him  a  good  and  loving  wife."  Mrs.  Johnston 
never  came  back  to  Wheatland,  except  for  a 
visit.  She  spent  the  last  years  of  her  life  in 
Washington,  where  she  gathered  about  her 
many  friends,  old  and  new.  Those  who  met  Mrs. 
Johnston  in  Washington  in  those  years  recall 
her  great  charm  of  manner  and  her  distin- 
guished beauty,  and  this  after  she  had  passed 
the  fateful  milestone  of  three  score  and  ten. 
One  thing  that  impressed  us  especially  at 
Wheatland  was  the  care  the  present  owner,  Mr. 
George  Wilson,  has  taken  to  keep  the  house 
much  as  it  was  during  the  residence  there  of  the 

100 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

ex-President.  Many  pieces  of  furniture  which 
belonged  to  him  are  still  in  the  rooms  and 
naturally  add  much  to  the  interest  of  a  visit 
to  this  old  house. 

Quite  near  Wheatland  is  Abbeyville,  once 
the  summer  home  of  the  Hon.  Langdon  Cheves, 
of  South  Carolina,  who  was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress for  years  and  sometime  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  A  charming  house, 
this  seemed  to  us,  as  we  saw  it  on  a  summer  day, 
the  doors  and  windows  open  and  the  perfume 
of  the  shrubbery  in  lawn  and  garden  filling  the 
air  with  fragrance.  We  were  warmly  welcomed 
by  the  daughter  of  Mr.  John  W.  Apple,  the 
present  owner  of  the  house,  who  told  us 
that  the  wings  had  been  added  by  Judge 
Cheves  and  also  the  fine  arches  and  beautiful 
carved  woodwork. 

Mr.  Buchanan  was  not  only  an  associate  of 
Judge  Cheves  in  political  life,  but  also  a  friendly 
neighbor  and  frequent  visitor  at  Abbeyville. 
For  lovely  Mrs.  Cheves,  Mr.  Buchanan  enter- 
tained a  warm  admiration  and  was  fond  of 
relating  a  pleasant  story  of  her  as  she  appeared 
at  her  own  dinner-table.  Mrs.  Cheves,  charm- 
ingly attired,  was  one  day  entertaining  some 
distinguished  guests  when  the  waiter,  in  passing 
around  the  soup-tureen  after  the  good  old  style 
before  dinners  a  la  Russe  were  in  vogue,  awk- 
wardly overturned  the  contents  upon  the  deli- 
cate brocade  gown  of  the  hostess.  Mr.  Buchanan 

101 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

said  that  not  only  did  Mrs.  Cheves  utter  no 
expression  of  surprise  or  anger,  but  without  a 
word  upon  the  subject  she  continued  the  con- 
versation in  which  she  was  engaged. 

The  Lincoln  Highway  from  Lancaster  fol- 
lows the  route  of  the  old  road  to  Columbia, 
and  one  charming  feature  of  this  highway  is 
that  the  trolleys  take  the  same  route,  which 
makes  this  picturesque  tour  free  to  those  who 
have  no  motorcars  and  are  destitute  of  inti- 
mate friends  who  own  them,  which  is  really  the 
most  convenient  method  of  seeing  the  country. 
On  this  June  day  the  road  was  bounded  on  both 
sides  by  great  fields  of  clover,  fragrant  with 
their  pink  blossoms,  and  shaded  by  locust  trees 
shedding  their  white  flowers,  which  still  gave 
out  a  sweet  perfume,  and  beyond  the  clover  we 
could  see  vast  fields  of  wheat  yellowing  in  the 
warm  sunshine;  we  did  not  wonder  that  Lan- 
caster County  was  called  a  garden  spot  and  that 
two  of  its  townships  were  named  Paradise  and 
Eden.  It  must  have  been  on  such  a  day  as  this 
that  Lloyd  Mifflin,  one  of  the  sweetest  poets  of 
Pennsylvania,  wrote  his  "In  the  Fields": 

When  daily  greener  grows  the  oats; 
When  near  his  nest  the  red-wing  floats, 
And  sweetbrier  blossoms  in  the  lane; 
When  freshening  wind  the  wheat-field  shakes, 
And  in  its  billowy  rolling  makes 
An  ocean  of  the  grain : 


102 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

When  wading  cows'  in  cool  mid-stream, 
Stand  by  the  hour  in  some  dull  dream 
Of  meadows  deep  with  clover-blooms; 
When  all  the  knolls  are  gold  of  hue, 
When  all  the  silences  of  blue 
Are  heavy  with  perfumes: 

"You  know,  of  course,  that  Mr.  Mifflm's 
home,  Norwood,  is  quite  near  Columbia, "  said 
Mr.  Henderson,  "on  the  Chestnut  Hill  road — 
a  fine  old  place.  I  wish  we  had  time  to 
stop;  but  if  we  are  to  reach  Gettysburg 
before  night  we  shall  have  to  pass  by  many  in- 
teresting places." 

Instead  of  the  proverbial  red  barns,  out  of  all 
proportion,  to  the  tiny  houses  to  which  they 
belong,  we  noticed  a  yellow  barn  now  and  again 
and  occasionally  one  painted  in  gray  or  laven- 
der, which  proves  that  these  thrifty  farming 
people  have  an  eye  for  beauty  and  har- 
monious coloring. 

"Yes,  they  may  occasionally  indulge  them- 
selves in  some  fancy  in  the  way  of  color, "  said 
Mr.  Henderson,  "like  the  blue  gate  that  the 
Mennonites  delight  in;  but  these  people  are 
thrifty,  first,  last  and  always,  and  the  best 
farmers  in  the  world ;  they  have  made  whatever 
place  they  have  settled  in  blossom  like  the  rose 
of  the  Scriptures.  I  was  talking  to  a  Mennonite 
from  Russia  the  other  day.  He  told  me  that  at 
one  time  a  number  of  his  people  were  encour- 
aged to  trek  from  Switzerland  to  Russia,  be- 

103 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

cause  of  their  great  ability  as  farmers ;  the  yield 
of  wheat  to  the  acre  under  their  management 
is  almost  incredible.  In  proof  of  their  value 
as  agriculturists  they  were  never  required  to 
serve  in  the  Eussian  army,  which  suited  them 
very  well,  as  the  Mennonites  are  as  much  op- 
posed to  war  as  your  Quaker  ancestors,  Mrs. 
Davis,  and  far  less  reasonable. ' ' 

"I  am  glad  that  you  give  my  Quaker  people 
the  credit  of  reasonableness.  They  have  little 
patience  shown  them  in  war  times,  and  yet  the 
Friends  are  doing  great  work  in  France  in  run- 
ning ambulances  and  in  helping  to  restore  the 
devastated  farms  and  villages. ' ' 

"Yes,  I  know,  but  warlike  measures  over- 
shadow everything  else;  the  Friends  will  do 
even  greater  work  when  we  get  the  Huns  out 
of  all  the  French  and  Belgian  towns." 

"What  does  Mr.  Henderson  mean  by  that 
we  ?  "  I  asked  myself,  but  as  we  were  just  then 
entering  Columbia  nothing  more  was  said. 

Columbia,  once  "Shawanah,  Indian  Town," 
and  later  Wright's  Ferry,  is  beautifully  situ- 
ated on  the  Susquehanna,  and  although  now  a 
flourishing  borough  with  fine  houses  and  several 
important  industries,  it  still  retains  some  of  its 
quaint  village  characteristics.  The  Wrights, 
Barbers,  Scarletts  and  Blunstons  were  among 
the  original  land  owners  and  settlers.  Upon 
John  Wright's  arrival  here  he  found  a  Shaw- 

104 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

nese  village  near  the  stream  of  the  same 
name.  This  John  Wright,  the  settler,  was  for 
years  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of  Chester 
County,  which  then  included  Lancaster  County. 
He  was,  however,  so  strong  a  Quaker  that  he 
refused  to  take  the  oath  of  office  and  simply 
affirmed.  Many  stories  are  told  of  this  clever 
and  somewhat  eccentric  character,  but  for  sev- 
eral reasons  we  were  more  interested  in  his 
daughter  Susannah,  whose  letters  to  James 
Logan  and  other  leading  men  of  the  day  we  had 
seen,  and  had  rejoiced  in  the  fact  that  even  in 
that  early  time,  when  women  were  expected  to 
take  their  opinions  ready-made  from  the  other 
sex,  this  little  Quaker  lady  was  able  to  hold  her 
own  with  the  best  of  them.  Living  on  this  river 
bank,  remote  from  the  larger  centers  of  interest, 
this  animated  correspondence  must  have  been 
a  great  pleasure  to  an  intelligent  woman  like 
Miss  Wright,  who  was  also  cultured  above  most 
women  of  her  day.  Mrs.  Deborah  Logan,  in  her 
brief  biography  of  Susannah  Wright,  speaks 
of  her  as  a  French  scholar  and  having  some 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  Italian.  That  she  bor- 
rowed French  books  from  the  Stenton  library 
is  evident,  as  James  Logan  takes  her  to  task 
quite  sharply  in  one  of  his  letters  for  her  delay 
in  returning  some  of  these  volumes : 

My  daughter  is  hard  at  her  freneh  under  a  Master  &  has 
occasion  for  f ontanelle  &  f enelon  or  Arb'p  Cambray.  Pray 
let  others  learn  also.  Where  is  Vaugelas? 

105 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

That  the  writer  entertained  no  serious 
grudge  against  his  young  friend  for  this  neglect 
appears  from  another  paragraph  in  the  same 
letter,  in  which  he  chides  her  for  failure  to  make 
a  promised  visit  to  Stenton: 

I  shall  take  no  excuse  whatsoever,  downright  sickness 
excepted,  but  shall  interpret  all  others  that  can  be  offer' d 
as  a  direct  declaration  that  thou  art  absolutely  determined 
to  renounce  for  Hempfield  all  the  rest  of  the  World,  and 
amongst  others,  one  who  has  ever  since  his  acquaintance 
with  thee  been  most  strongly  inclined  to  show  himelf 
thy  sincere  and  affectionate  frd, 

J.  LOGAN.1 

We  were  fortunate  in  meeting  my  friend, 
Miss  E ,  who  lives  in  Columbia,  and  learn- 
ing of  our  interest  in  Susannah  Wright,  she  of- 
fered to  take  us  to  her  old  home.  Leaving  the 
chauffeur  in  charge  of  the  car,  we  made  our  way 
on  foot  by  a  street  with  high  factory  buildings, 
which  seem  quite  out  of  place  in  this  old  town, 
to  Second  Street,  where  are  the  fine  old  Wright 
mansions.  The  one  in  which  we  were  especially 
interested  is  Hempfield,  built  in  1726.  Although 
despoiled  of  its  extensive  lawn,  which  sloped 
down  to  the  Susquehanna,  this  house  has  been 
little  changed  otherwise  and  so  retains  much  of 
its  old-time  charm.  Here  Susannah  Wright 
lived  for  many  years.  From  Hempfield  we  were 
taken  to  see  another  house  which  is  associated 
with  Susannah.  This  house,  which  has  a  won- 

1  Publications  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society  of  the  Colonial 
Dames  of  America,  1906. 

106 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

derf  ul  situation  on  a  high  bluff  above  the  river, 
commanding  a  wide  sweep  of  the  waters  north 
and  south,  was  built  by  Samuel  Blunston,  one 
of  the  pioneers  here,  and  Mr.  Henderson  tells 
us  that  he  was  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  Susan- 
nah, who  refused  him  several  times,  upon  which 
he,  amiable  and  most  forgiving  of  suitors,  ended 
by  leaving  his  house  and  lands  to  the  unrequit- 
ing  lady,  or,  as  he  expressed  it  more  discreetly 
in  his  will:  "to  my  valued  friend,  Susannah 
Wright,  a  life  interest  in  my  lands  at  this  place, ' ' 
A  bit  of  romance  always  adds  to  the  charm  of 
an  old  mansion,  and  as  we  passed  from  room 
to  room  we  wondered  why  this  little  Quaker 
lady  had  chosen  for  herself  a  state  of  single 
blessedness,  that  estate  not  being  greatly  in 
repute  in  Colonial  days  when  the  conditions 
of  pioneer  life  made  it  seem  important  for  every 
woman  to  have  a  protector. 

"Would  that  all  suitors  were  as  generous 
and  forgiving  as  Mr.  Samuel  Blunston  I"  ex- 
claimed Kathleen  with  emphasis,  to  which  Mr. 
Henderson,  with  as  severe  an  expression  as  his 
amiable  face  was  capable  of  assuming,  replied : 
"And  don't  you  think  that  Miss  Susannah 
Wright  must  have  felt  some  sharp  twinges  of 
remorse  while  enjoying  Samuel  Blunston 's 
house  and  farm  after  refusing  to  live  here 
with  him?" 

Miss  E was  very  much  amused  at  this 

107 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

view  of  the  situation  and  said  that  Susannah 
Wright  had  never  lived  in  this  house,  although 
she  had  an  office  here  and  on  certain  days  in 
the  week  was  in  the  habit  of  prescribing  for  the 
sick  people  in  the  community.  The  office  was  in 
the  old  part  of  the  house,  which  has  been  con- 
siderably enlarged  since  the  days  of  Sam- 
uel Blunston. 

Columbia  has  several  claims  to  distinction, 
notably  the  fact  that,  as  Wright's  Ferry,  it  was 
seriously  considered  as  a  possible  site  for  the 
National  Capital,  in  common  with  Harrisburg, 
Lancaster,  York  and  Germantown.  That  a 
town  in  Pennsylvania  which  state  had  been 
the  scene  of  so  many  important  events  during 
the  Revolution  was  not  chosen  for  the  seat  of 
the  National  Capital  was  a  surprise  to  many 
of  its  citizens.  If  Columbia  failed  in  its 
ambition  to  be  made  the  capital  of  the  United 
States,  it  gained  distinction  in  a  quite  dif- 
ferent line,  for  here  was  established  the  first 
underground  railroad,  over  which  William 
Wright  helped  many  slaves  to  make  their 
escape.  William  Wright,  a  descendant  of  the 
first  John  Wright,  who  laid  out  the  town,  is  said 
to  have  been  an  active,  intelligent  man  of  great 
presence  of  mind  and  having  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  pertaining  to  slavery.  He 
passed  the  fugitives  on  to  the  next  important 
station,  which  was  that  of  Daniel  Gibbons,  where 

108 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

he  and  his  wife,  Hannah  Wierman  Gibbons, 
helped  them  in  their  turn.  Upon  one  occasion 
this  valiant  woman  for  six  long  weeks  nursed 
back  to  health  a  poor  ignorant  runaway  slave 
who  had  developed  smallpox.  Hannah  Gibbons 
and  her  husband  were  both  elders  in  the  Society 
of  Friends  and,  like  all  abolitionists,  were  deeply 
interested  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  When 
near  -death,  in  the  autumn  of  1860,  she  roused 
herself  from  the  stupor  into  which  she  had 
fallen  to  ask  if  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been 
elected  President  of  the  United  States.  This 
was  only  three  weeks  before  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  but  this  devoted  friend  of  the  slave  did 
not  live  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  her  hopes. 

Among  those  who  aided  William  Wright  and 
the  Gibbons  family  in  their  effort  to  help  run- 
away slaves  were  Oliver  Furness,  Christian 
Frantz,  a  Mennonite;  Dr.  J.  K.  Eshleman, 
Joshua  Brinton  and  Lindley  Coates,  who,  with 
his  wife  Deborah,  often  hid  the  fugitives  in  his 
cornfield  under  the  shocks.2 

As  we  crossed  the  Susquehanna  over  the  won- 
derful long  bridge,  the  successor  of  several  long 
bridges,  and  looked  upon  the  wide  sweep  of  the 
shining  river  and  its  picturesque  banks,  we  did 
not  wonder  that  this  town  should  have  im- 
pressed many  of  the  members  of  Congress  as 
a  good  site  for  the  capital,  contrasting  favorably 

a  "  The  Underground  Railroad,"  by  Mrs.  M.  C.  Brubaker. 
109 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

as  it  did  with  the  unimproved  tract  of  marsh  and 
forest  land  upon  the  Potomac  where  the  beau- 
tiful city  of  Washington  now  stands.  Those 
Congressmen,  John  Hancock,  John  Adams  and 
the  others,  had  a  good  opportunity  to  study  the 
landscape  in  September,  1777,  as  they  crossed 
the  Susquehanna  on  flatboats  on  their  way 
to  York. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Susquehanna  we 
passed  through  a  second  Wright's  Ferry, 
now  Wrightsville. 

On  the  right-hand  side  of  the  Lincoln  High- 
way, near  the  town  of  York,  we  were  attracted 
by  an  old  building  with  this  appropriate  sign, 
' '  Ye  Olde Valley  Inn, ' '  for  here  the  valley  widens 
in  a  great  reach  of  beautiful,  fertile  country 
enclosed  in  a  frame  of  distant  blue  mountains. 
The  site  of  York,  or  Yorktown,  as  it  was  called 
for  years,  on  Codorus  Creek,  seems  to  have  been 
chosen  by  that  very  able  surveyor,  Thomas 
Cookson,  who  located  so  many  towns  on  prop- 
erty belonging  to  the  Penns,  and,  very  naturally, 
it  was  laid  out  on  the  plan  of  Philadelphia,  hav- 
ing its  Market  Street  and  its  central  square, 
which,  being  more  fortunate  than  that  city,  it 
still  possesses.  As  we  motored  through  this 
attractive  central  square  by  the  new  Court 
House,  handsome  high-school  buildings  and 
many  fine  churches,  all  Mr.  Henderson's  elo- 
quence was  needed  to  remind  us  that  York  was  a 

no 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

very  old  town,  having  been  the  first  town  to  be 
laid  out  west  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  that  not- 
withstanding the  old  York  is  overshadowed  by 
the  new  and  prosperous  town,  its  citizens  took 
great  pride  in  celebrating  its  one  hundred  and 
fiftieth  anniversary  in  1891.  Unfortunately,  the 
civic  pride  of  the  people  of  York  did  not  wake 
up  early  enough  to  save  the  old  Court  House 
where  the  Continental  Congress  met  in  the  win- 
ter of  1777  and  '78,  although  some  wise  citi- 
zens secured  the  old  bell  that  pealed  forth  the 
news  of  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  placed  it  in  the  cupola  of  St. 
John's  Church.  It  was  during  the  dark  days  of 
the  memorable  winter  and  spring  of  1778  that 
the  cheering  news  of  Burgoyne's  defeat  at 
Saratoga  and  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  with 
France  reached  York  by  way  of  Wright 's  Ferry. 
Upon  the  receipt  of  this  last  good  news  in  May, 
the  bell  of  the  old  Court  House  rang  forth  a 
joyous  peal,  which  was  echoed,  with  still  greater 
joy,  when  on  June  20th  tidings  came  to  this 
patriotic  town  that  the  British  had  evacu- 
ated Philadelphia. 

As  we  passed  through  the  square,  a  courte- 
ous citizen  drew  our  attention  to  a  bronze  tablet 
on  which  was  recorded  the  fact  that  Congress 
had  met  here  during  the  Revolution,  and  the 
same  person  pointed  out  to  us  with  pride  the 
Court  House  of  1842.  We  were,  I  fear,  very 

8  111 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

unappreciative  of  the  charms  of  this  building, 
as  we  turned  away  from  it  still  deploring  the 
fact  that  the  priceless  old  structure,  which  had 
resounded  to  the  voices  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Bepublic,  had  been  torn  down,  and  refusing  to 
be  comforted  by  the  statement  that  the  present 
building  had  cost  a  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
a  great  sum  in  1842 ! 

Mr.  Henderson  tactfully  remarked  that  York 
could  claim  at  least  one  Signer  of  the  Declara- 
tion, James  Smith,  an  Irish  lawyer,  one  of  the 
f  ramers  of  the  State  Constitution  and  an  ardent 
patriot,  who  sacrificed  his  business  interests  in 
order  to  serve  his  adopted  country.  This  trib- 
ute to  the  importance  of  his  native  town  so 
pleased  our  self -constituted  guide  that  he  of- 
fered to  show  us  other  places  of  interest  in 
York,  among  them  the  fine  park  which  occupies 
the  site  of  a  general  hospital  for  ill  and  wounded 
soldiers,  which  was  maintained  from  1862  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  This  genial  and  public- 
spirited  citizen  also  urged  us  to  take  time  to 
motor  through,  the  grounds  of  Highland  Park, 
farther  north  on  the  Codorus,  and  ended  by  giv- 
ing us  much  needed  information  about  a  tea- 
house where  we  could  find  some  luncheon,  so 
our  acquaintance  which  began  in  a  discussion 
of  antiquities  ended  with  the  less  elevating  but 
generally  popular  topic  of  food. 

It  was  a  thrilling  experience  to  be  in  Gettys- 
112 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

burg  this  first  year  of  our  war,  and  at  night ;  we 
motored  all  around  the  encampment  by  moon- 
light, and  seeing  camp  fires,  or  perhaps  they 
were  only  electric  lights,  in  the  long  lines  of 
tents,  we  thought  of  the  two  great  encampments 
near  this  old  town  fifty-four  years  since.  The 
Union  army  was  on,  Cemetery  Hill,  the  Confed- 
erate only  a  little  over  a  mile  south,  each  one 
able  to  see  the  lights  of  the  enemy's  camp;  and 
now  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  those  soldiers  of 
1863  are  met  together  under  these  khaki  tents, 
brothers  in  arms,  united  in  support  of  a 
great  cause. 

Some  such  thoughts  as  these  floated  through 
my  mind  when,  as  if  to  humor  my  mood,  Kath- 
leen sang  softly : 

I  have  seen  Him  in  the  watch-fires  of  a  hundred  circling 

camps; 
They  have  builded  Him  an  altar  in  the  evening  dews  and 

damps ; 
I  can  read  His  righteous  sentence  by  the  dim  and  naming 

lamps ; 

"I  should  think  the  boys  would  be  singing 
that,  or  'America,'  instead  of  such  songs  as 
'The  Old  Gray  Mare'  and  'Nancy  Lee,'  that  I 
heard  them  singing  when  I  went  over  to  see  my 
nephew  Billy,  but  boys  will  be  boys,  and  it  may 
hearten  them  a  bit  to  sing  lively,  catchy  tunes. 
Camp  life  is  monotonous  enough,  so  far  from 
the  scene  of  action;  the  days  are  pretty 
much  alike." 

113 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Upon  this  Kathleen  started  in  with : 

They  were  summoned  from  the  hillside, 
They  were  called  in  from  the  glen, 

And  the  country  found  them  ready 
At  the  stirring  call  for  men 

when  a  rousing  chorus  of  boyish  voices  rang  out 
in  "Keep  the  Home  Fires  Burning. "  We  were 
quite  near  the  tents  just  then,  and  the  young 
voices  sounded  fresh  and  sweet  as  they  were 
borne  to  us  on  the  still  night  air  and  infinitely 
pathetic  as  we  thought  of  the  experiences  that 
awaited  them  in  strange  lands  and  of  the  fate 
that  might  be  theirs. 

"You  have  touched  the  right  chord, "  said 
Mr.  Henderson;  "they  seem  to  like  that 
cheery  song. ' ' 

"I  wish,"  said  Kathleen  in  her  impulsive 
fashion,  "that  I  could  meet  every  one  of  those 
boys  and  tell  them  all  how  much  I  honor  them 
for  what  they  are  doing  and  give  each  one  some- 
thing to  remember  me  by. ' ' 

"If  they  should  be  so  happy  as  to  meet  you, 
they  could  never  fail  to  remember  you,"  said 
Mr.  Henderson  in  a  low  tone,  but  not  so  low 
that  I  failed  to  hear,  and  then  he  added  some- 
thing that  I  did  not  catch,  he  being  on  the  front 
seat  on  Kathleen's  side  of  the  car;  but  whatever 
it  was  it  had  the  effect  of  making  her  silent  and 
thoughtful  for  the  rest  of  the  drive. 

What   did   it   all   mean?   I   asked   myself. 

114 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

Is  Mr.  Henderson  in  love  with  my  Kathleen, 
and  is  he  telling  her  that  he  is  going  over  to 
France  himself  1  Again  I  asked  myself  these 
questions  when,  at  the  entrance  to  the  hotel, 
our  escort  proposed  a  moonlight  stroll  about 
the  town.  I  naturally  excused  myself  on  the 
plea  of  being  too  tired  to  take  another  step, 
although  the  streets  did  look  attractive  by  the 
light  of  the  moon,  and  I  was  not  so  very  tired; 
but  who  would  spoil  sport,  and  on  such  a  night 
as  this? 

When  Kathleen  stopped  at  my  door  a  full 
hour  later  to  say  good-night,  her  eyes  looked 
rather  dewy,  and  she  kissed  me  with  more 
than  usual  warmth.  And  then,  despite  the  many 
thoughts  about  past,  present  and  future  that 
this  evening  near  the  old  camp  ground  had 
stirred,  I  fell  into  a  deep  and  dreamless  sleep, 
only  to  be  awakened  by  the  morning  sunshine 
streaming  into  the  room  with  its  promise  of  an- 
other glorious  June  day  in  the  open. 

A  turn  through  the  town  on  our  way  to  the 
battle-field  by  the  Lutheran  Theological  Semi- 
nary, the  Pennsylvania  State  College  and  other 
public  buildings  revealed  the  fact  that  Gettys- 
burg had  changed  very  little  in  the  years  since 
those  July  days  in  '63  which  made  it  famous. 
One  of  our  party,  it  is  needless  to  say  which  one, 
was  here  not  very  long  after  the  battle,  when 
gruesome  signs  of  the  f  rightfulness  of  war  were 
still  in  evidence. 

115 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

General  Lee  started  on  his  northward  march 
with  his  entire  army  early  in  July.  EwelPs 
corps  was  in  Chambersburg  by  the  fifteenth  of 
the  month,  and  what  a  day  the  twentieth  must 
have  been  to  the  people  of  this  old  town  when 
Jenkins'  cavalry  clattered  through  the  streets, 
soon  to  be  joined  by  General  Early  himself. 
To  the  credit  of  this  officer,  it  should  be  said 
that  he  issued  a  proclamation  assuring  the  in- 
habitants of  Gettysburg  that  they  would  not  be 
molested  by  his  troops,  and  to  them  he  gave 
strict  orders  to  respect  the  property  of  the  citi- 
zens. A  story  recurred  to  me  that  was  told  us 
years  ago,  when  there  were  many  persons  living 
in  Gettysburg  who  vividly  recalled  the  entrance 
of  the  Confederate  troops.  These  men,  tired, 
travel-stained  and  hungry,  lay  down  to  rest 
upon  the  sidewalk  and  in  the  streets  with  their 
knapsacks  under  their  heads.  When  spoken  to 
and  offered  food  and  drink  by  kind-hearted  citi- 
zens they  invariably  refused,  and  when  urged 
to  give  the  reason  of  their  refusal,  the  almost 
invariable  answer  was,  "I  must  obey  orders." 
These  poor  boys,  refusing  food  and  drink, 
brought  before  us  suddenly  the  human  side  of 
this  great  conflict,  a  side  which  is  often  over- 
shadowed by  the  broader  issues  at  stake.  Other 
human  associations  with  these  fateful  days  of 
July,  1863,  we  found  in  the  plain  little  frame 
house  with  its  picket  fence  in  which  General 

116 


GETTYSBURG  VIA  COLUMBIA  AND  YORK 

Meade  met  his  staff  and  planned  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  and  in  the  small  but  more  substan- 
tial stone  house  in  which  General  Lee  had  his 
headquarters,  simple  little  houses  in  which  two 
great  generals  were  lodged,  in  striking  contrast 
to  jthe  luxurious  and  well-protected  lodgings 
that  we  read  of  as  the  headquarters  of  the  Ger- 
man Kaiser  and  his  sons. 

We  made  our  way  to  Round  Top,  from  which 
we  could  see  the  stretch  of  level  ground,  over 
which  Pickett's  Division  swept  when  they  made 
their  ill-fated  charge,  the  most  impressive  spot 
on  the  whole  battle-field,  it  has  always  seemed 
to  me.  Mr.  Henderson,  who  had  been  there 
on  the  occasion  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
battle,  told  us  of  many  human  touches  brought 
out  by  the  meeting  of  the  veterans  of  1863  on  the 
field  over  which  both  sides  had  fought  so  furi- 
ously a  half  a  century  before.  The  most  mem- 
orable scene  perhaps  was  the  meeting  here  be- 
tween the  survivors  of  the  Philadelphia  Bri- 
gade and  of  Pickett's  Division,  when  they 
clasped  hands  like  brothers,  while  Old  Glory 
waved  over  the  two  slender  lines  of  the  Blue 
and  the  Gray.  We  thought  of  the  prophetic 
words  of  the  great  seer  and  leader,  who  spoke 
here  in  the  November  after  the  battle,  and  of 
how  he  would  have  rejoiced  that  the  foes  of 
half  a  century  before  should  meet  again  on  the 
old  battle-ground  and  dedicate  the  remainder 

117 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  their  lives  to  a  united  country  then  at  peace. 
Mr.  Henderson  reminds  us  that  in  only  one 
prophecy  did  Mr.  Lincoln's  clear  vision  fail,  and 
that  was  when  he  said:  "The  world  will  little 
note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but 
it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here."  For 
over  half  a  century  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  has 
never  failed  to  call  to  the  minds  of  Americans 
the  words  spoken  here  on  that  November  day, 
words  that  have  become  a  part  of  the  literature 
of  the  people,  and  will  so  continue  for  all  time. 


VI 
CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

THE  tour  of  twenty-five  miles  between  Get- 
tysburg and  Chambersburg  was  a  delight,  as 
the  road  led  us  over  successive  ridges  of  the 
South  Mountain  and  by  woods  filled  with  bloom- 
ing laurel,  the  little  dainty  blossoms  that  look 
like  the  printed  flowers  on  chintz.  In  this  South 
Mountain  were  several  charcoal  furnaces ;  just 
over  the  line,  in  Franklin  County,  was  Cale- 
donia, now  Caledonia  Park.  The  old  furnace 
and  forge  on  the  Conococheague,  ten  miles 
southeast  of  Chambersburg,  now  on  the  Lincoln 
Highway,  were  owned  and  operated  for  years 
by  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  James  D.  Paxton, 
the  latter  known  among  the  iron  fraternity  as 
Colonel  Paxton.  Both  furnace  and  forge  were 
burned  by  the  Confederate  troops,  nothing  being 
left  of  the  works  except  the  office  building  and 
the  old  smithy,  which  is  now  the  trolley  station. 

There  is  an  extensive  state  park  at  Cale- 
donia, as  this  is  one  of  the  three  divisions  of  the 
South  Mountain  State  Forest.  The  other  two 
are  Pine  Grove,  to  the  north,  and  Mont  Alto, 
to  the  south.  All  of  them  are  old-time  iron 
estates  and  now  are  included  in  the  vast  tract 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  set  apart 

119 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  to  remain  for  all  time  in  the  State  Forest 
Keservation  of  Pennsylvania.  This  wise  and 
important  legislation  is  largely  due  to  the  efforts 
of  Governor  Pennypacker,  who  was  urged  by 
Dr.  J.  S.  Eothrock,  Miss  Myra  Dock  and  other 
public-spirited  citizens  to  use  his  influence  to 
preserve  the  forest  lands  of  Pennsylvania  be- 
fore encroaching  business  and  manufactories 
had  destroyed  what  could  not  be  replaced  in 
hundreds  of  years.  A  most  appropriate  celebra- 
tion was  held  at  Caledonia  Park  on  a  recent 
birthday  of  our  distinguished  Commissioner  of 
Forestry,  Doctor  Eothrock,  when  a  white  oak 
tree  was  planted  for  every  year  of  his  long  and 
useful  life. 

There  is  very  little  left  of  old  Chambers- 
burg  to-day,  but  when  we  entered  the  town  on 
this  June  afternoon  and  motored  through  its 
streets  by  the  Lincoln  Highway  and  Philadel- 
phia Avenue,  in  both  of  which  are  many  hand- 
some residences,  with  fine  gardens  all  abloom, 
we  could  not  regret  the  destruction  of  1864  as 
keenly  as  did  its  inhabitants  of  that  time,  so 
beautiful  is  the  new  Chambersburg  that  has 
arisen  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  town. 

No  northern  town  suffered  at  the  hands  of 
the  Confederate  troops  as  much  as  Chambers- 
burg.  Greeneastle,  Carlisle,  York,  Wrightsville 
and  other  Pennsylvania  towns  were  invaded,  but 
the  fine  old  town  of  Chambersburg,  near  the 

120 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

Maryland  border,  proved  a  shining  mark  and 
consequently  was  invaded  several  times  and 
twice  set  on  fire.  The  last  invasion,  that  of 
July,  1864,  was  the  most  disastrous,  as  the 
greater  part  of  the  town  was  burned  to  the 
ground,  all  of  the  old  houses  and  many  hand- 
some modern  residences  and  public  buildings 
having  been  destroyed.  The  old  house  of  the 
settler  and  his  family  has  long  since  disap- 
peared, but  the  town  which  bears  his  name  and 
the  church  for  which  he  gave  the  land  are  the 
enduring  monuments  of  Benjamin  Chambers, 
founder  of  Chambersburg. 

From  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  Benjamin 
Chambers  came  to  Cumberland  County  about 
1730,  being  the  first  white  settler  in  Franklin 
County.  Having  the  world  before  him  where 
to  choose,  he  selected  for  the  site  of  a  town, 
saw  mill  and  church  the  most  desirable  position, 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Falling  Spring  and  the 
Conococheague  creeks,  where  Chambersburg  is 
now  situated. 

"  Having  procured  a  title  to  as  much  land 
as  he  desired,  he  proceeded  to  erect  a  log  house, 
covered  with  lapped  shingles  and  fastened  by 
nails,  a  style  of  building  out  of  the  common 
mode  of  round  logs  and  clapboard  roofs  secured 
by  beams.  Some  time  after  being  induced  to 
visit  the  east  side  of  the  Susquehanna,  he  left 
his  house  unoccupied  for  a  short  time  and  on 

121 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIAETOWNS 

his  return  found  it  burned  to  ashes.  This  was 
afterwards  ascertained  to  be  the  work  of  an  un- 
principled hunter,  who  was  induced  to  do  it  for 
the  sake  of  the  nails,  which  at  that  day,  in  this 
wild  region,  were  esteemed  no  ordinary  prize. ' ' 

To  the  credit  of  Colonel  Benjamin  Cham- 
bers, it  may  be  said  that  he  maintained  friendly 
intercourse  with  the  Indians  of  this  region,  with 
whom  he  traded  and  so  impressed  them  with  his 
fairness  in  dealing  with  them  that  he  won  their 
confidence  and  respect. 

"When,  however, "  says  Doctor  Nevin,  "the 
western  Indians,  after  Braddock's  defeat  in 
1755,  became  troublesome  and  made  incursions 
east  of  the  mountains,  killing  and  making  pris- 
oners of  many  of  the  white  inhabitants,  Colonel 
Chambers,  for  the  security  of  his  family  and 
neighbors,  found  it  necessary  to  erect,  where 
the  borough  of  Chambersburg  now  is,  a  large 
stone  dwelling  house,  surrounded  by  the  water 
from  Falling  Spring.  The  dwelling  house,  for 
greater  security  against  the  attempts  of  the 
Indians  to  fire  it,  was  roofed  with  lead.  The 
dwellings  and  the  mills  were  surrounded  by  a 
stockade  fort.  This  fort,  with  the  aid  of  fire- 
arms, a  blunderbuss  and  swivel,  was  so  formid- 
able to  the  Indian  parties  who  passed  the 
country  that  it  was  but  seldom  assailed,  and  no 
one  sheltered  by  it  was  killed  or  wounded,  al- 
though in  the  country  around,  at  different  times, 

122 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

those  who  ventured  out  on  their  farms  were 
surprised  and  either  slaughtered  or  carried  off 
prisoners,  with  all  the  horrors  and  aggravations 
of  savage  warfare."  1 

Although  settled  in  1730,  the  town  was  not 
regularly  laid  out  until  1764;  prior  to  that  date 
it  was  called  " Falling  Spring"  and  "Cham- 
bers '  Fort ' »  and  '  '  Chambers '  Town. '  >  The  lat- 
ter name  it  held  till  the  erection  of  Franklin 
County  in  1784,  when  the  present  name,  Cham- 
bersburg,  was  adopted. 

"One  may  form  some  little  idea  of  the  wild 
state  of  the  country  when  Chambersburg  was 
first  settled,"  says  an  ancient  chronicler,  "from 
the  fact  that,  about  1785,  immediately  back  from 
Badebaugh's  tavern  stand  it  was  a  wilderness, 
so  thickly  overgrown  that  it  was  not  safe  for 
anyone  unacquainted  to  enter  into  it  any  dis- 
tance for  fear  of  being  lost.  It  was  no  un- 
common thing  to  hear  wolves  near  the  town 
howl.  This  we  have  from  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers." These  settlers  of  Chambersburg  and 
indeed  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Cumberland 
Valley  were  Scotch-Irish,  hardy  and  industri- 
ous and  not  easily  discouraged  by  the  dangers 
and  difficulties  of  pioneer  life.  They  were  also 
a  religious  people,  Presbyterians  of  a  deeper, 
darker  blue  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  of  the 
churches  of  that  denomination  to-day.  In  mak- 

iaMen  of  Mark  of  Cumberland  Valley,  1776-1876,"  by 
Alfred  Nevin,  D.D, 

123 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

ing  over  to  the  Presbyterians  the  land  for  the 
Falling  Spring  Church,  Colonel  Chambers,  in  his 
deed  of  1768,  donated  it  to  "the  religious  so- 
ciety, then  and  thereafter  adhering  to  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  and  the  mode  of 
government  therein  contained,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  a  house  of  worship,  session  and  school 
houses  and  cemetery. ' ' 

Mr.  Henderson  pointed  out  to  us  the  present 
Falling  Spring  church  on  Philadelphia  Avenue, 
near  which  he  said  the  first  log  cabin  of  Colonel 
Chambers  was  situated,  and  his  later  strongly- 
fortified  house,  called  Chambers '  Fort.  In  later 
years,  Colonel  Chambers  built  another  house, 
using  some  of  the  stones  from  the  old  "fort," 
but  not  on  the  same  site.  This  house  was  given 
to  his  daughter  Buhamah,  who  married  Dr. 
John  Calhoun,  the  first  resident  physician  in 
Chambersburg.  Doctor  Calhoun  was  an  ardent 
patriot  as  well  as  a  noted  physician,  being  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  Cumberland  County 
Committee  of  Observation  and  also  a  delegate 
to  the  Congress  of  1774  in  Carpenter's  Hall. 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Calhoun  lived  in  this  house  for 
many  years.  It  is  now  occupied  by  a  descend- 
ant of  Colonel  Chambers,  William  Cham- 
bers Mahaffey. 

On  the  Lincoln  Highway,  which  runs  directly 
through  the  town,  we  noticed  a  handsome  house 
standing  quite  high  above  the  street,  surrounded 

124 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

by  fine  trees,  with  a  beautiful  garden  at  the 
side  and  back.  This  mansion,  now  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nevin  Pomeroy,  was  built 
by  Mrs.  Pomeroy 's  father,  Mr.  William  McLel- 
land,  a  well-known  lawyer  of  Chambersburg, 
more  than  seventy  years  since.  The  preserva- 
tion of  this  house  from  the  general  destruction 
of  July,  1864,  is  said  to  have  been  due  to  the 
courage  and  presence  of  mind  of  Mrs.  McLel- 
land,  who  met  the  officer  in  command  at  the  door 
and,  pointing  to  the  unhappy  women  and  chil- 
dren who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes 
by  the  flames,  said:  "We  have  a  home  and  can 
get  another,  but  can  you  not  spare  these  poor, 
helpless  people  and  their  children  ? ' '  The  officer 
turned  away  without  making  any  reply,  but  he 
ordered  his  command  to  move  on,  and  that  part 
of  the  town  was  saved  from  destruction. 

In  common  with  Lancaster,  Belief  on  te,  Car- 
lisle and  other  old  Pennsylvania  towns,  Cham- 
bersburg had  clearly-defined  social  lines,  an 
aristocracy  in  the  very  best  sense  of  the  word, 
as  it  was  composed  of  men  and  women  of  refine- 
ment and  culture  and  to  be  able  to  claim  descent 
from  an  early  settler  was  distinctly  in  one's 
favor.  Among  the  old  residents,  those  who 
drove  their  own  coaches,  made  yearly  or  half- 
yearly  visits  to  Harrisburg  or  Philadelphia,  the 
latter  city  being  the  center  of  social  life  and  the 
arbiter  of  fashion,  having  constant  communica- 

125 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

tion  with  London  and  Paris.  The  ladies  of  the 
family  often  made  these  long  journeys  with  their 
husbands  and  fathers,  taking  advantage  of  this 
opportunity  to  renew  their  friendships  in  other 
cities  and  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  latest 
styles.  We  can  well  imagine  the  excitement  and 
interest  with  which  those  who  had  been  in 
touch  with  the  larger  world  were  received  in 
their  own  town,  and  with  what  eagerness  the 
ladies  of  the  party  were  questioned  as  to 
the  newest  fashions  in  hats,  cloaks  and  other 
feminine  gear. 

One  of  the  fortunate  damsels  who  visited 
Philadelphia  in  1795  was  Miss  Charlotte  Cham- 
bers, a  daughter  of  General  James  Chambers 
and  a  granddaughter  of  the  founder  of  Cham- 
bersburg.  In  writing  of  her  presentation  at 
Mrs.  Washington's  drawing-room,  Miss  Cham- 
bers thus  describes  her  own  costume :  ' '  On  this 
evening  my  dress  was  white  brocade  silk, 
trimmed  with  silver,  and  white  silk,  high-heeled 
shoes,  embroidered  with  silver,  and  a  light  blue 
sash,  with  silver  cord  and  tassel  tied  at  the  left 
side.  My  watch  was  suspended  at  the  right 
and  my  hair  was  in  its  natural  curls.  Surmount- 
ing all  was  a  small  white  hat  and  ostrich 
feather,  confined  by  brilliant  band  and  buckle. " 

A  far  cry  was  this  from  the  early  days  of 
the  settlement  and  the  log  cabin  of  the  young 
lady's  grandfather,  and  yet  all  this  luxury  and 

126 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

elegance  had  come  about  in  less  than  seventy 
years !  That  Miss  Chambers  was  as  well  bred 
as  she  was  well  dressed  appears  from  her  de- 
scription of  the  ceremony  of  the  presentation 
and  her  own  part  in  it : 

"Mrs.  Washington  with  Mrs.  Knox  sat  near 
the  fireplace.  Other  ladies  were  seated  on  sofas, 
and  gentlemen  stood  in  the  center  of  the  room 
conversing.  On  our  approach,  Mrs.  Washington 
rose  and  made  a  curtsy — the  gentlemen  bowed 
most  profoundly — and  I  calculated  my  declen- 
sion to  her  own  with  critical  exactness. 

"The  President,  soon  after,  with  that  be- 
nignity peculiarly  his  own,  advanced,  and  I 
arose  to  receive  his  compliments  with  the  respect 
and  love  my  heart  dictated. 

"He  seated  himself  beside  me — and  inquired 
for  my  father,  a  severe  cold  having  detained 
him  at  home. " 

General  Chambers  was  naturally  well  known 
to  the  President,  having  been  an  officer  in  the 
Pennsylvania  line.  This  very  observing  and 
intelligent  young  lady  was  married  the  next 
year  to  Israel  Ludlow  and  with  him  became  a 
pioneer  in  the  settlement  of  Ohio,  in  which  state 
many  of  her  descendants  still  live. 

Other  well-known  families  of  Chambersburg 
were  the  Thomsons,  Linns  and  Crawfords.  Dr. 
William  Thomson,  who  practiced  his  profession 
in  Philadelphia  for  many  years  and  was  known 
as  a  brilliant  ophthalmologist,  and  Frank  Thom- 

9  127 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

son,  who  was  president  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Bailroad  at  the  time  of  his  death,  were  both 
sons    of   the   distinguished   jurist,   Alexander 
Thomson,  of  Chambersburg.    Mr.  Frank  Thom- 
son named  his  beautiful  country  seat  near  Mer- 
ion,   Pennsylvania,    Corkerhill,   after   the    old 
home  in  Scotland  from  which  his  great-grand- 
father, Alexander  Thomson,  had  emigrated  in 
1771.     Edward  Crawford,  Esq.,  a  well-known 
and  honored  citizen  of  Chambersburg,  in  con- 
nection with  Alexander  Calhoun,  established 
the  first  bank  in  this  town,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent for  over  twenty  years.    His  son,  Thomas 
Hartley  Crawford,  was  a  distinguished  lawyer 
and  Judge  of  the  District  Court  in  Washington. 
While  living  in  Chambersburg,  Eeade  M.  Wash- 
ington came  from  his  home,  Audley,  in  Clark 
County,  Virginia,  to  read  law  with  Judge  Craw- 
ford.   Mr.  Washington  fell  in  love  with  Miss 
Crawford,  married  her,  and  thus  established  the 
Pennsylvania  branch  of  the  Washington  family. 
One  morning  we  gave  to  Wilson  College, 
one  of  the  first  colleges  for  women  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  will  soon  celebrate  its  fiftieth  anni- 
versary.    The   main   building   of   the  college 
was  the  old  home  of  Colonel  Alexander  K.  Mc- 
Clure,  and  with  its  large  rooms  and  extensive 
grounds,  is  well  adapted  for  the  purpose.    We 
noticed  a  picture  of  a  woman  placed  in  a  promi- 
nent place  on  the  parlor  mantelpiece  and  were 
told  that  this  was  a  portrait  of  Miss  Sarah  Wil- 

128 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

son,  a  fanner's  daughter  in  the  valley  who  had 
given  the  first  money  for  the  college.  Not  hav- 
ing had  the  advantages  of  a  liberal  education 
herself,  she  gave  generously  of  her  fortune  for 
the  founding  of  this  college,  in  order  that  many 
young  women  might  enjoy  privileges  that  had 
been  denied  to  her  in  her  youth.  All  honor  to 
Miss  Wilson,  and  may  many  more  women  of  her 
broad-minded  outlook  upon  life  and  her  gener- 
osity arise  in  the  future  to  aid  this  excellent  in- 
stitution of  learning! 

Mr.  Henderson  left  us  early  this  morning. 
On  our  way  from  Gettysburg,  he  told  us  that  he 
had  offered  his  services  to  the  Government,  to  be 
sent  wherever  he  could  be  most  useful,  but  not 
in  the  ranks,  being,  as  he  said,  too  old  for  that 
service.  He  does  not  look  too  old  for  any  ser- 
vice, and  I  told  him  so,  at  which  he  laughed, 
blushed  like  a  boy  of  fifteen  and  was  evidently 
pleased.  He  thanked  me,  as  the  older  woman 
of  the  party,  for  the  pleasure  of  the  trip,  looking 
at  Kathleen  the  while;  but  one  gets  used  to  that 
sort  of  thing,  and  in  making  his  adieus  he  said, 
"I  may  still  be  in  Washington  when  Mrs.  Davis 
is  there.  If  so,  I  hope  she  will  tell  me  where  I 
may  have  the  pleasure  of  calling  on  her."  So 
he  knows  that  Kathleen  expects  to  be  in  Wash- 
ington later  in  the  month. 

We  are  quite  bereft  without  our  adopted 
Antiquary,  and  still  another  misfortune  has  be- 
fallen us  to-day.  Wright  came  to  us  with  a 

129 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

beaming  smile  upon  his  face,  although  he  did 
make  a  valiant  effort  to  look  serious,  and  in- 
formed us  that  his  orders  had  come  and  that  he 
was  to  report  in  Washington  the  day  after  to- 
morrow. Ever  mindful  of  our  comfort,  he 
wished  to  know  what  the  ladies  would  like  him 
to  do ;  should  he  take  them  back  to  Philadelphia; 
there  was  plenty  of  time  for  that,  or  would  they 
prefer  to  go  on  to  Washington  the  next  day?  I 
begged  to  be  left  out  of  the  plan  altogether,  as 
I  had  some  places  to  visit  in  the  valley ;  and  as 
Kathleen  had  promised  to  take  one  of  her  Cham- 
bersburg  friends  to  Washington  some  time  this 
month,  she  decided  in  favor  of  taking  that  trip 
at  once,  saying,  "  After  that,  I  make  no  plans 
in  these  uncertain  days.  I  will  sell  the  car  if 
I  cannot  find  a  good  chauffeur.  Of  course,  I  can 
never  hope  to  find  another  man  like  Wright. 
This  is  one  of  the  sacrifices  of  the  war." 

We  had  intended  to  go  to  Rocky  Spring  this 
afternoon,  but  instead  were  obliged  to  spend  our 
time  in  seeing  Kathleen's  friend  and  in  making 
other  arrangements  for  her  hurried  exodus 
from  this  charming  town,  where  we  expected  to 
spend  several  days  together.  We  regret  very 
much  not  being  able  to  go  to  Rocky  Spring,  as 
it  is  one  of  the  interesting  places  in  this  region. 
The  Rocky  Spring  Church  seems  to  have  been 
founded  here  as  early  as  1738,  and  had  for  its 
pastor  during  the  Revolutionary  War  one  of  the 
most  valiant  sons  of  the  valley. 

130 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

This  pastor,  Mr.  Craighead,  evidently  con- 
sidered the  inculcation  of  patriotism  an  im- 
portant part  of  his  religious  duty.  On  one  occa- 
sion, it  is  said,  the  patriotic  preacher  declaimed 
in  such  burning  and  powerful  terms  against  the 
wrongs  we  were  then  suffering  that,  after  a 
glowing  description  of  the  duty  of  the  men,  the 
whole  congregation  rose  from  their  seats  and 
declared  their  willingness  to  march  to  the  con- 
flict. There  was  one,  tradition  says,  in  the  entire 
assembly  who  was  not  overcome  by  the  stirring 
appeal  that  was  made,  and  that  was  an  aged 
female,  in  whom  maternal  affection,  recently 
caused  to  bleed,  completely  mastered  both  a 
sense  of  propriety  and  the  love  of  liberty. 
1 1  Stop,  Mr.  Craighead, ' '  she  exclaimed.  * '  I  jist 
want  to  tell  ye,  agin'  you  loss  such  a  purty  boy 
as  I  have  in  the  war,  ye  will  na  be  sa  keen  for 
fighting.  Quit  talking  and  gang  yerseP  to  the 
war.  Ye 're  always  preaching  to  the  boys  about 
it,  but  I  dinna  think  ye'd  be  very  likely  to  gang 
yerseP.  Jist  ga  and  try  it. " 

And  the  reverend  gentleman  did  "ga  and 
try  it,"  as  he  joined  the  Continental  army  in 
New  Jersey,  where  he  fought  and  preached  al- 
ternately, acting  as  captain  of  his  company 
when  on  the  march,  and  in  battle  and  in  camp 
filling  the  office  as  the  good  chaplain  to  his 
soldiers.  We  regretted  again  after  reading  a 
little  history  of  Eocky  Spring  Church  which 
had  been  given  us  that  we  could  not  do  honor 

131 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

to  this  good  and  brave  dominie's  memory  by 
visiting  his  old  home  and  pastorate. 

As  we  wished  to  see  Greencastle  again,  and 
as  it  is  on  Kathleen's  route  to  Washington,  we 
set  forth  directly  after  the  service  in  the  old 
Falling  Spring  Church  on  Sunday  morning.  A 
spin  of  eleven  miles  through  this  lovely  valley 
brought  us  to  the  old  town,  which  looked  peace- 
ful and  seemed  so  set  apart  from  "the  world's 
ignoble  strife"  that  it  was  difficult  to  realize 
that  one  of  the  most  frightful  Indian  massacres 
had  taken  place  in  a  schoolhouse  quite  near 
Greencastle  in  1764.  The  teacher  and  all  his 
pupils  were  murdered  by  the  Indians  with  one 
exception.  The  one  exception  was  Archibald 
McCullough,  who  was  left  in  the  schoolhouse 
under  the  impression  that  he  was  dead.  He  later 
revived,  recovered  from  his  wounds  and  lived 
many  years  to  tell  the  tale  of  this  sad  day.  It 
should  be  said  to  the  honor  of  Enoch  Brown,  the 
schoolmaster,  that  he  prayed  the  Indians  to  take 
his  life  only  and  spare  the  children,  which 
prayer,  says  McCullough,  was  unheeded. 

A  number  of  families,  chiefly  from  the  north 
of  Ireland,  settled  on  the  site  of  the  present  town 
of  Greencastle,  then  included  in  what  was  called 
the  Conococheague  Settlement,  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century;  among  them  were  the 
Craigs,  Crawfords,  Poes,  Watsons,  Davidsons, 
McClellans,  Culbertsons  and  Allisons.  William 
Allison,  who  came  from  the  north  of  Ireland, 

132 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

acquired  a  large  tract  of  land  in  this  portion  of 
the  Conococheague  Settlement,  and  was  among 
those  who  met  at  Mr.  Edward  Shippen's  house 
in  Shippensburg  to  confer  with  regard  to  the 
erection  of  five  forts  in  Franklin  County.  Fort 
Allison  was  soon  after  erected  west  of  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Greencastle,  probably  on  Mr.  Alli- 
son's land,  most  of  which  he  left  to  his  eldest 
son,  Colonel  John  Allison.  After  the  war,  in 
which  Colonel  Allison  served  with  distinction, 
he  returned  to  Franklin  County  and  laid  out 
the  town  of  Greencastle  in  1782,  which  he  named 
after  the  town  from  which  his  father  had  emi- 
grated to  Pennsylvania.  South  of  Greencastle 
on  the  Middleburg  road  is  a  fine  old  farm,  the 
stone  house  still  in  good  condition,  which  was  the 
home  of  the  late  James  Allison,  the  last  member 
of  the  family  who  lived  in  this  region.  This 
place  was  noted  for  its  beautiful  spring,  of  which 
Kathleen  had  often  heard  her  mother  speak, 
and  when  she  saw  it  she  felt  that  it  was  quite 
equal  to  the  descriptions  she  had  heard  of  it, 
a  deep  pool  of  clear  water,  with  a  crystal  stream 
flowing  from  it  and  all  shaded  by  a  great  tree. 
In  the  town  are  a  number  of  old  houses,  still 
in  good  condition,  among  them  that  of  Dr.  John 
Boggs,  who  was  a  leading  physician  here  and 
highly  esteemed  as  a  family  doctor,  which,  Kath- 
leen says,  is  a  sort  of  M.D.  which  does  not  exist 
in  these  days  of  specialists.  The  old  double 
house  of  Doctor  Boggs  and  the  fine  landscape 

133 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

paper  on  the  walls  of  the  wide  hall  and  stairway 
interested  us  greatly,  and  paper  which  has  stood 
the  wear  and  tear  of  nearly  a  hundred  years  is 
certainly  worthy  of  admiration.  This  house  is 
on  North  Carlisle  Street,  and  quite  near  stands 
the  Fletcher  house,  the  ancestral  home  of  the 
Hon.  Henry  Prather  Fletcher,  who  has  served 
his  country  with  signal  ability  in  the  diplomatic 
service  in  the  Philippines,  in  Havana,  Pekin, 
Lisbon  and  later  in  Mexico  as  United  States 
Ambassador. 

Another  distinguished  citizen  of  old  Green- 
castle  was  Dr.  John  McClellan,  who  studied 
medicine  in  Philadelphia  under  Dr.  Benjamin 
Eush  and  became  a  noted  surgeon  in  the  Cum- 
berland Valley.  Doctor  McClellan 's  two  sons, 
the  Hon.  Eobert  M.  McClellan,  who  removed  to 
Monroe,  Michigan,  and  was  twice  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  that  state,  and  William  McLelland,  of 
Chambersburg,  spelled  their  names  differently, 
which  has  caused  some  confusion'  Both 
brothers  were  able,  public-spirited  citizens  and 
an  honor  to  a  name  about  whose  orthography 
they  saw  fit  to  differ. 

From  this  part  of  the  Conococheague  Settle- 
ment, as  from  other  towns  in  the  Cumberland 
Valley,  all  of  the  men  young  enough  to  bear 
arms  during  the  Eevolution  did  valiant  service 
in  the  Continental  army,  the  Scotch-Irish  being 
of  fighting  stock,  and  the  Allison,  McLanahans, 
Browns,  Crawfords,  Watsons,  Irwins,  Blairs, 

134 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

Buchanans,  Johnstons  and  other  valley  families 
were  well  represented.  Four  of  the  Johnston 
brothers  were  in  the  service  at  the  same  time. 
Colonel  James  Johnston  commanded  the  regi- 
ment that  marched  from  this  part  of  the  country 
into  New  Jersey.  Colonel  Thomas  Johnston 
was  acting  colonel  at  the  time  that  a  part  of  the 
army  under  General  Wayne  was  surprised  at 
Paoli  by  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy.  An- 
other brother,  Dr.  Eobert  Johnston,  was  army 
surgeon  from  the  commencement  of  the  war 
until  its  close,  having  been  at  Yorktown  at  the 
surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis.  Doctor  Johnston 
was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati,  which  was  composed  entirely 
of  officers  who  had  served  during  the  war.  At 
the  close  he  made  a  voyage  to  China,  having  an 
interest  in  a  cargo  of  gensing,  then  esteemed  a 
great  commodity,  from  which  he  realized  a  large 
fortune.  When  he  returned  to  his  home  he 
brought  with  him  what  was  then  considered  a 
great  curiosity,  a  Chinese  servant.  Doctor 
Johnston  purchased  a  farm  and  settled  in 
Franklin  County,  where  his  home  was  a  resort  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  day,  many  of 
them  his  old  army  comrades.  The  Johnston 
family  is  only  one  among  the  many  in  this  val- 
ley which  sent  all  of  its  sons  to  the  service  of 
their  country. 

When  Kathleen  left  me  at  the  station  in 
Greencastle,  with  many  regrets  and  promises 

135 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

to  join  me  later  in  the  summer,  I  felt  as  lonely 
as  the  proverbial  sparrow  on  the  housetop,  and 
half  regretted  that  I  had  not  consented  to  take 
the  beautiful  drive  with  her  on  the  Middleburg 
road  through  Hagerstown  and  Frederick  to 
Washington,  but  having  set  forth  to  see  Penn- 
sylvania towns,  here  I  stay.  As  if  to  compen- 
sate me  for  the  loss  of  my  compagnon  de  voy- 
age, some  good  friends  stopped  to  see  me  in 
the  evening  and  proposed  to  take  me  to  Ship- 
pensburg  the  next  day.  Of  course,  this  invita- 
tion was  accepted  with  alacrity,  and  the  next 
morning  found  us  on  the  highway  speeding 
toward  Shippensburg,  where  we  found  that  we 
had  a  link  with  Philadelphia,  the  town  having 
been  laid  out  by  Edward  Shippen,  grandson  of 
the  first  Edward  Shippen.  The  town  as  it  now 
stands  is  upon  a  part  of  the  Shippen  tract  of  over 
twelve  hundred  acres,  for  which  Mr.  Shippen 
had  patent  rights  in  1737.  Even  before  this 
date  there  were  a  number  of  settlers  here,  as 
Shippensburg  claims  to  be  the  oldest  town  in 
the  state  west  of  the  Susquehanna,  with  the 
exception  of  York.  In  1730  there  were  twelve 
families  in  the  settlement,  and  courageous  set- 
tlers were  these,  living  in  a  wilderness  as  they 
did  with  savages  for  neighbors !  We  have  heard 
much  of  the  sufferings  of  the  early  settlers  of 
New  England,  but  for  some  reason  the  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  of  the  pioneers  of  middle 
and  western  Pennsylvania  have  not  been  dwelt 

136 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

upon  at  length  in  most  histories  of  Colonial 
life,  although  they  seem  to  have  been  quite 
as  great. 

In  a  letter  written  from  Shippensburg  by 
James  Magaw  in  1733  to  his  brother,  who  evi- 
dently lived  near  Harris'  Ferry,  now  Harris- 
burg,  the  writer  says : 

I  wish  you  would  see  John  Harris  at  the  ferry  and  get 
him  to  write  to  the  Governor  to  see  if  he  can't  get  some  guns 
for  us;  There's  a  good  wheen  of  ingens  about  here,  and  I 
fear  they  intend  to  give  us  a  good  dale  of  troubbel  and  may 
do  us  a  grate  dale  of  harm.  We  was  three  days  on  our 
journey  coming  from  Harrises  ferry  here.  We  could  not 
make  much  speed  on  account  of  the  childer;  They  could  not 
get  on  as  fast  as  Jane  and  me. 

Fort  Franklin  was  built  as  early  as  1740, 
but  even  with  this  protection  those  who  worked 
in  the  fields  were  always  in  danger,  and  several 
years  later  a  party  of  harvesters  were  surprised 
by  the  Indians  in  Mr.  Johni  Cessna 's  field. '  '  Some 
of  the  men  were  killed,  and  Mr.  Cessna  and  his 
two  grandsons  and  John  Kirkpatrick  were  cap- 
tured and  carried  off.  Other  harvesters  were  in 
the  field  at  this  time,  but  a  thicket  which  stood 
between  them  and  the  Indians  concealed  them 
from  view."  In  the  face  of  such  dangers  as 
this,  the  beautiful  towns  of  the  Cumberland 
Valley  were  established,  and  the  farms  sur- 
rounding them  cultivated  to  a  fertility  equal  to 
that  of  any  portion  of  the  Union. 

From  an  old  record  it  appears  that  when  the 

137 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

town  was  laid  out  the  old  Indian  path  became 
the  main  road  and  was  chosen  for  the  location 
of  King  Street.  Three-fourths  of  the  residents 
of  the  town,  in  1751,  lived  upon  that  portion  of 
this  street  which  lies  between  Washington 
Street  and  the  top  of  the  hill.  Shippensburg 
was  planned  with  so  much  judgment  as  to  its 
situation  that  it  soon  became  a  flourishing  town, 
and  when  the  county  of  Cumberland  was  formed 
in  January,  1750,  the  first  courts  of  justice  were 
held  here,  and  although  it  had  not  regularly 
been  so  appointed,  Shippensburg  was  regarded 
as  the  county-seat  and  so  continued  for  some 
years,  being  the  chief  town  in  the  valley. 

In  his  administration  of  affairs  in  Shippens- 
burg, Mr.  Shippen  was  aided  by  James  Burd, 
who  had  married  his  daughter  Sarah.  Gossip  of 
the  day  has  spoken  of  this  as  a  runaway  match, 
but  even  if  this  be  true,  Mr.  Burd  seems  to  have 
been  on  excellent  terms  with  his  father-in-law, 
for  whom  he  acted  as  superintendent  in  Ship- 
pensburg. He  took  an  active  part  in  the  build- 
ing of  Fort  Morris  and  later  in  the  erection  of 
Fort  Augusta  at  Shamokin.  It  is  evident  that 
the  fort  at  Shippensburg  made  this  a  safe  re- 
treat for  many  families  that  had  been  driven 
from  their  homes.  In  a  letter  written  to  Edward 
Shippen  in  1755,  James  Burd  said:  "This  town 
is  full  of  people,  they  being  all  moving  in  with 
their  families — five  or  six  families  in  a  house. 

138 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

We  are  in  great  want  of  ammunition ;  but  with, 
what  we  have  we  are  determined  to  give  the 
enemy  as  warm  a  reception  as  we  can.  Some 
of  our  people  had  been  taken  prisoners  by  this 
party,  and  have  made  their  escape  from  them 
and  come  to  us  this  morning.  .  .  .  We  have 
a  hundred  men  working  at  Fort  Morris  every 
day."  He  also  wishes  that  they  would  send 
guns — "  great  guns,  small  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion— from  Philadelphia. 2 

We  were  so  much  interested  in  the  associa- 
tions of  old  Shippensburg  that  we  paid  little 
attention  to  its  public  school  and  other  buildings 
or  to  its  attractive  homes,  and  we  were  fortunate 
here,  as  in  other  places,  in  meeting  an  enthusi- 
astic lover  of  his  town  who  told  us  many  inter- 
esting tales  of  the  large  quantities  of  military 
supplies  stored  here  during  the  Revolution  and 
of  the  great  herds  of  cattle  and  swine  then  pas- 
tured in  the  rich  meadow  land  near  the  town, 
from  which  the  commissaries  could  supply 
their  needs. 

One  of  Shippensburg 7s  claims  to  distinction 
is  that  General  Washington  was  here  twice  at 
the  time  of  the  Wniskey  Insurrection  in 
western  Pennsylvania. 

"He  traveled  through  October  11,  1794,  and 
took  dinner  at  the  Branch  Inn.  When  he  reached 
Bedford,  Pa.,  he  found  it  was  not  necessary  for 

3  History  of  Cumberland  County,  p.  260. 
139 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

him  to  go  on,  so  he  returned  the  way  he  came 
and  on  October  14th  he  stayed  all  night  in  Ship- 
pensburg. The  story  is  told  that  on  this  night 
the  proprietor  of  the  hotel,  who  was  not  a  drink- 
ing man,  felt  so  good  in  the  great  honor  of 
entertaining  the  President  that  he  got  drunk; 
and  one  of  Washington's  aides  got  too  much. 
To  punish  the  aide,  Washington  made  him  walk 
his  horse  up  and  down  the  stream  of  water  in 
Shippensburg  called  the  McMeans  Creek,  now 
the  Branch,  until  he  was  sober.3 

An  admirable  device  this  for  sobering  a 
drunken  man,  provided  he  is  able  to  walk  at  all ; 
but  rather  severe  treatment  for  the  poor  horse, 
which  had  to  pay  the  penalty  for  his  master's 
indiscretion  without  having  had  whatever  pleas- 
ure is  to  be  found  in  getting  drunk ! 

Among  the  prominent  residents  of  Shippens- 
burg are  the  Stewarts,  whose  ancestor,  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Stewart,  emigrated  from  County  Antrim, 
Ireland,  in  1773,  and  settled  in  Frederick 
County,  Maryland.  In  1831  Dr.  Alexander 
Stewart,  grandson  and  namesake  of  the  settler, 
after  completing  his  education  in  Washington 
Medical  College,  Baltimore,  began  to  practice 
his  profession  in  Shippensburg,  and  was  known 
here  and  for  many  miles  through  the  surround- 
ing country  as  the  skillful,  devoted  and  well- 

3 "History  of  the  Cumberland  Valley,"  by  Harriet  Wylie 
Stewart. 


140 


CHAMBERSBURG  AND  SHIPPENSBURG 

beloved  physician.  Mr.  George  H.  Stewart,  an 
influential  citizen  of  Shippensburg,  who  owns 
many  fine  farms  in  this  region,  and  Justice  John 
Stewart,  of  the  Superior  Court,  who  now  lives 
in  Chambersburg,  are  sons  of  Dr.  Alexander 
Stewart  of  Shippensburg. 

One  of  our  party  having  a  sentimental  inter- 
est in  Southampton  furnace,  which  had  been 
owned  and  operated  by  one  of  her  ancestors, 
we  decided  to  motor  three  miles  into  the  South- 
ampton Gap  to  see  the  old  house  and  works. 
Nothing  is  left  of  the  furnace  and  chapel  which 
belonged  to  the  iron  works,  but  the  "Big 
House "  is  standing,  very  little  changed,  and 
not  looking  so  very  big  after  all.  "Sic  tran- 
sit/' said  the  granddaughter  of  the  old  iron- 
master, a  note  of  disappointment  in  her  voice, 
adding,  "I  have  always  thought  of  it  as  a 
large  house;  but  then  I  was  a  very  little  child 
myself  when  I  saw  it  last.  I  saw  something  of 
the  life  at  a  charcoal  furnace  years  later,  when 
my  grandfather  had  a  furnace  in  Adams  County, 
and  I  have  never  seen  anything  just  like  it  any- 
where else." 

"You  are  quite  right,"  I  said.  "There  is 
nothing  like  it.  Only  those  who  have  lived  at  an 
old  iron  furnace  have  any  adequate  conception 
of  the  almost  feudal  relations  existing  between 
the  employer  and  employed.  It  was  a  condition 
of  interdependence  with  an  underlying  sense  of 

141 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

protection  and  friendliness.  If  these  workmen 
had  been  called  upon  to  arm  themselves  and  go 
forth  to  fight  for  their  chief  as  in  feudal  times, 
they  would  doubtless  have  gone  without  a  mur- 
mur. As  it  was,  the  only  lists  that  they  were 
called  upon  to  enter  were  to  be  found  at  the 
polls.  At  election  time  the  hands  were  all  sent 
in  huge  wagons  to  vote  for  whatever  candidate 
represented  the  protective  tariff,  the  fetish  of 
the  iron  industry  in  the  early  and  middle 
years  of  the  last  century,  as  it  has  been  in 
later  times." 

Mrs.  William  J.  Biose,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
William  Watts,  who  owned  and  operated  the 
Pine  Grove  Furnace  for  many  years,  said  that  in 
a  "blowing  in"  of  a  furnace  in  the  sixties  great 
care  was  taken  not  to  use  a  Democratic  paper. 

The  history  and  associations  of  many  Penn- 
sylvania towns  are  inseparably  connected  with 
the  iron  furnaces  that  were  early  established  in 
numerous  counties  of  the  state,  especially  near 
the  mountain  regions  where  the  iron  ore  de- 
posits were  discovered. 

Bereft  of  both  of  the  traveling  companions 
with  whom  I  had  set  forth  from  Philadelphia 
and  of  the  one  we  adopted  in  Lancaster,  I  con- 
cluded to  take  a  train  at  Shippensburg  for  Car- 
lisle, where  friends  were  awaiting  me. 


VII 
A  PICTUKESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


A  STROLL,  along  High  Street,  Carlisle,  is  like 
a  journey  into  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  days, 
so  many  old  houses  with  beautiful  doorsteps  and 
porticoes  are  still  to  be  found  beside  modern 
buildings.  The  Cumberland  Valley  trains  pass 
through  this  street,  as  in  the  days  before  the 
Civil  War,  and  the  residents  sit  on  their  door- 
steps on  summer  evenings,  just  as  Mrs.  Dillon 
described  them  in  her  novel,  "In  Old  Bellaire." 
Something  of  the  charm  of  the  South  the  so- 
journer  feels  in  Carlisle  to-day,  the  same  gener- 
ous hospitality  and  warmth  of  welcome  are  here 
that  the  New  England  girl  in  Mrs.  Dillon's  story 
felt  when  she  stepped  out  of  the  primitive  train — 
which  rang  a  bell  to  announce  its  approach — and 
stepped  along  High  Street  accompanied  by  the 
dignified  president  of  Dickinson  College,  who 
had  gone  to  meet  the  new  teacher.  Early  mem- 
ories crowded  around  me  as  I  walked  along 
this  street,  past  the  Court  House  Square,  the 
spacious  Parker  house,  with  its  beautiful  por- 
tico, and  so  on  by  many  an  old  home  to  the 
shaded  grounds  of  the  college;  but  in  vain  I 
looked  for  Martin's  Hotel,  which  once  stood  on 

10  143 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

High  Street,  an  old-time  hostelry  associated  in 
my  mind  with  many  a  regale  in  childish  days. 
Here,  after  a  twelve-mile  drive  over  the  moun- 
tains by  Holly  Gap,  across  Hunter's  Run  and 
Yellow  Breeches  Creek,  and  by  a  steep  hill  of 
rocks,  along  whose  side  old  Peter  Ege  is  said 
to  have  ridden  after  a  fox  or  deer,  we  were 
warmly  welcomed  by  Mrs.  Martin,  hospitable 
and  delightfully  loquacious  landlady,  who 
graphically  related  all  the  news  of  the  town 
while  she  spread  before  her  guests  a  dinner  that, 
with  appetites  sharpened  by  a  long  drive  in  the 
mountain  air,  seemed  to  us  equal  to  a  feast 
of  Lucullus.  Martin's  Hotel  was  found  later  on 
High  Street,  but  altered  beyond  recognition  by 
the  addition  of  two  stories  and  other  changes. 
And  no  Mrs.  Martin  was  there  to  smile  her  wel- 
come at  the  side  door  and  enliven  the  visit  by 
her  tales  of  garrison  and  college  doings,  not  the 
less  interesting  to  childish  ears,  if  seasoned  with 
a  bit  of  gossip,  this  last  in  a  stage  whisper  all 
the  more  enticing  because  only  half  understood, 
upon  which  the  wise  mother,  instead  of  stimu- 
lating curiosity  by  saying  " don't  let  the  chil- 
dren hear, ' r  by  some  tactful  question  turned  the 
tide  of  talk  into  channels  more  suited  to  the 
ears  of  " little  pitchers,"  whose  long  ears  were 
naturally  agog  for  stories. 

"No  place  knows  its  own  history  better  than 
Philadelphia,"  wrote  Sir  George  Trevelyan,  the 

144 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


broad-minded  English  historian  of  the  Amer- 
ican Eevolution,  and  the  same  expression  may 
be  used  in  speaking  of  the  town  of  Carlisle ;  but 
to  get  into  the  heart  of  the  old  town  one  must 
walk  or  motor  through  its  streets  with  those 
who  love  its  history  and  traditions,  or  sit  with 
them  on  their  porticoes  on  summer  evenings  and 
hear  their  tales,  handed  down  from  father  to 
son  through  many  generations.  These  tales 
go  back  to  the  days  when  the  Delawares,  Shaw- 
nees  and  Tuscaroras  still  lingered  upon  their 
familiar  hunting-grounds  in  this  beautiful  val- 
ley and  made  frequent  attacks  upon  the  settle- 
ments. Indeed,  few  frontier  towns  have  a  more 
tragic  early  history  than  Carlisle,  and  many 
thrilling  stories  are  to  be  found  in  the  annals 
of  the  Cumberland  Valley.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  these,  and  one  of  the  few  Indian 
tales  that  has  a  cheerful  ending,  is  that  of  the 
return  of  the  captives  after  Colonel  Bouquet's 
successful  campaign  of  1764.  One  of  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  was  that  the  prisoners  taken  by  the 
Indians  should  be  returned.  Of  one  joyful  re- 
union Dr.  Alfred  Nevin  has  written:  "A  great 
number  of  the  restored  prisoners  were  brought 
to  Carlisle,  and  Colonel  Bouquet  advertised  for 
those  who  had  lost  children  to  come  there  and 
look  for  them.  Among  those  that  came  was  an 
old  woman,  whose  child,  a  little  girl,  had  been 
taken  from  her  several  years  before,  but  she  was 

145 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

unable  to  designate  her  daughter  or  converse 
with  the  released  captives.  With  breaking  heart 
the  old  woman  lamented  to  Colonel  Bouquet  her 
hapless  lot,  telling  him  how  she  used,  many  years 
ago,  to  sing  to  her  little  daughter  a  hymn  of 
which  the  child  was  so  fond.  She  was  requested 
by  the  Colonel  to  sing  it  then,  which  she  did 
in  these  words : 

Alone,  yet  not  alone  am  I, 

Though  in  this  solitude  so  drear; 

I  feel  my  Saviour  always  nigh, 
He  comes  my  every  hour  to  cheer, 

and  the  long-lost  daughter  rushed  into  the  arms 
of  her  mother." 

This  incident  occurred  more  than  twelve 
years  after  the  settlement  of  Carlisle,  when  it 
was  still  a  small  town,  although  it  had  out- 
grown the  limits  described  by  John  Neal  in  1753, 
when  there  were  only  five  houses  and  but  twelve 
men  in  the  garrison.  The  court  was  then 
held  in  a  log  building  on  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  Center  Square.  Its  garrison  at  Fort 
Lowther  being  so  poorly  equipped,  it  is  not 
strange  that  Carlisle  suffered  severely  from 
Indian  depredations. 

Shippensburg  and  other  places  had  been  pre- 
ferred for  the  county-seat  of  the  newly-elected 
County  of  Cumberland;  but  James  Hamilton, 
then  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  was  firm  in  his 
determination  to  have  it  situated  on  the  banks  of 

146 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


Le  Tort 's  Spring,  a  stream  four  miles  in  length, 
named  after  an  Indian  interpreter.  In  support 
of  this  decision,  which  the  inhabitants  of  Ship- 
pensburg  considered  somewhat  arbitrary,  the 
Governor  gave  as  his  reasons  that  "here 
was  a  wholesome  dry  limestone  soil,  good  air 
and  abundancy  of  vacant  land,  well  covered  with 
a  variety  of  woods/'  He  also  charged  his  com- 
missioners, Nicholas  Scull  and  Thomas  Cook- 
son  "to  take  into  consideration  the  following 
matters,  viz. :  the  health  of  the  citizens,  the  good- 
ness and  plenty  of  water,  with  the  easiest  method 
of  coming  at  it;  its  commodiousness  to  the  great 
road  leading  from  Harris'  Ferry  to  the  Po- 
towmac,  and  to  other  necessary  roads,  as  well 
into  the  neighbouring  county  as  over  the  passes 
in  the  Blue  Mountains. ' ' 

In  October,  1753,  a  conference  with  several 
tribes  of  Indians  was  held  at  Carlisle,  Richard 
Peters,  Isaac  Norris  and  Benjamin  Franklin 
representing  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania.  Of 
this  conference  and  of  the  Indians,  Franklin 
wrote  in  his  Autobiography:  "As  those  people 
are  extremely  apt  to  get  drunk,  and,  when  so, 
are  very  quarrelsome  and  disorderly,  we  strictly 
forbade  the  selling  any  liquor  to  them ;  and  when 
they  complained  of  this  restriction,  we  told  them 
that  if  they  would  continue  sober  during  the 
treaty,  we  would  give  them  plenty  of  rum  when 
business  was  over.  They  promised  this  and 

147 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

they  kept  their  promise,  because  they  could  get 
no  liquor,  and  the  treaty  was  conducted  very 
orderly,  and  concluded  to  mutual  satisfaction. 
They  then  claim 'd  and  received  the  rum;  this 
was  in  the  afternoon :  there  were  near  one  hun- 
dred men,  women  and  children,  and  were  lodged 
in  temporary  cabins,  built  in  the  form  of  a 
square,  just  without  the  town.  In  the  evening, 
hearing  a  great  noise  among  them,  the  com- 
missioners walked  out  to  see  what  was  the  mat- 
ter. We  found  they  had  made  a  great  bonfire 
in  the  middle  of  the  square ;  they  were  all  drunk, 
men  and  women,  quarreling  and  fighting.  Their 
dark-colour  'd  bodies,  half  naked,  seen  only  by 
the  gloomy  light  of  the  bonfire,  running  after 
and  beating  one  another  with  firebrands,  accom- 
panied by  their  horrid  yellings,  form'd  a  scene 
the  most  resembling  our  ideas  of  Hell  that  could 
well  be  imagined;  there  was  no  appeasing  the 
tumult,  and  we  retired  to  our  lodging. ' ' 

It  is  quite  evident  that  Doctor  Franklin  held 
the  same  views  as  General  Sherman  as  he  added 
with  more  philosophy  than  benevolence:  "And, 
indeed,  if  it  be  the  design  of  Providence  to  ex- 
tirpate these  savages  in  order  to  make  room  for 
cultivators  of  the  earth,  it  seems  not  improbable 
that  rum  may  be  the  appointed  means.  It  has 
already  annihilated  all  the  tribes  who  formerly 
inhabitated  the  sea-coast." 

It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  the  sav- 

148 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


ages,  as  well  as  Doctor  Franklin,  were  disposed 
to  put  the  blame  of  their  misdeeds  upon  Provi- 
dence, for  if  the  latter  considered  rum  a  short 
and  easy  method  for  disposing  of  the  Indian 
question,  the  counsellor  who  acted  as  spokes- 
man of  the  tribes  at  the  time  said  in  justification 
of  the  savages'  drunken  brawl:  "The  Great 
Spirit,  who  made  all  things,  made  everything  for 
some  use,  and  whatever  use  he  design  'd  anything 
for,  that  use  it  should  always  be  put  to.  Now, 
when  he  made  rum,  he  said,  'Let  this  be  for  the 
Indians  to  get  drunk  with, '  and  it  must  be  so. ' ' 

It  is  difficult  for  those  who  wander  through 
the  streets  of  this  pretty  and  prosperous  county- 
seat  of  a  fertile  and  populous  valley  to  realize 
that  at  the  time  of  the  visit  of  Franklin  and  his 
fellow-commissioners,  Carlisle  was  little  more 
than  a  frontier  fort. 

In  1753  Fort  Lowther,  on  High  Street  near 
the  Public  Square,  was  a  harbor  of  refuge  for 
the  pioneer  and  his  family.  Although,  as  one 
of  its  annalists  has  said,  "Carlisle  showed  its 
desire  to  deal  justly  with  the  men  of  the  forest 
and  to  live  in  peace  with  them,  this  desirable 
millennial  condition  was  so  frequently  disturbed 
by  attacks  upon  the  settlers  of  the  valley  that  it 
became  necessary  to  increase  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Lowther,  and  finally  in  1756  to  send  an 
armed  force  against  Kittanning,  where  the  In- 
dians had  collected  large  supplies  of  ammunition 

149 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  provisions.  Colonel,  afterwards  General 
John  Armstrong,  led  this  successful  expedition. 
Under  his  command  were  William  Thompson 
and  Henry  Miller,  who  with  their  leader  won 
their  first  laurels  in  the  Kittanning  expedition, 
all  three  having  distinguished  themselves  later 
in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

Important  as  was  the  part  taken  by  this 
frontier  town  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  the 
role  played  by  Carlisle  and  the  surrounding 
towns  of  the  Cumberland  Valley  in  the  War  of 
the  Eevolution  was  even  more  distinguished. 
This  beautiful  valley,  watered  by  the  Conodo- 
guinet  and  its  tributaries  and  almost  encircled 
by  two  spurs  of  the  Blue  Eidge,  known  as  the 
North  and  South  Mountains,  sent  forth  many 
valiant  sons  at  the  call  of  their  country.  Among 
those  who  went  to  the  front  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Revolution  and  reflected  honor  upon  their 
home  town  were  Generals  Henry  Miller,  William 
Irvine,  John  Armstrong,  Colonel  Thomas  But- 
ler, who  with  his  four  brothers  were  known  as 
"the  fighting  Butlers,"  Colonel  Robert  Mor- 
gan, one  of  the  defenders  of  Fort  Washington  on 
the  Hudson  in  1776,  and  General  William 
Thompson,  who  with  his  battalion  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Riflemen,  was  said  to  be  the  first  to  reach 
Boston  from  the  South  in  1775.  General  Arm- 
strong, a  native  of  Ireland,  early  identified  him- 
self with  the  country  of  his  adoption,  and  in 

150 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


addition  to  gaining  distinction  in  its  service  in 
two  wars,  gained  the  still  greater  distinction  of 
being  the  trusted  friend  of  Washington.  The 
remains  of  General  Armstrong  rest  in  the  beau- 
tiful old  cemetery  of  Carlisle,  which  was  a  gift 
from  the  Pemxs,  where,  under  its  overshadowing 
trees  lie  the  ashes  of  many  of  the  good  and  great. 
In  this  cemetery  Mollie  Pitcher  is  buried.  A  fine 
spirited  statue  now  markka  the  grave  of  this 
patriotic  young  woman.  So  often  has  discredit 
been  thrown  upon  the  story  of  Mollie  Pitcher's 
services  to  her  country  that  we  feel  indebted  to 
the  Hon.  Edward  Biddle  for  its  painstaking 
and  satisfactory  verification.  From  Judge 
Biddle 's  address,  delivered  in  1916,  at  the  time 
of  the  unveiling  of  the  monument,  it  appears 
that  Mary  Ludwig  came  to  Carlisle  from  New 
Jersey  in  1769  as  a  domestic  servant  and  soon 
after  married  a  young  barber  named  John  Hays, 
who  enlisted  in  1775  for  one  year  as  a  gunner 
in  Proctor's  Artillery.  In  January,  1777,  Hays 
reenlisted  as  a  private  in  an  infantry  regiment 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  William  Irvine, 
of  Carlisle.  This  regiment  was  at  Valley  Forge 
during  the  severe  winter  of  1777-78,  and 
marched  from  there  in  June,  1778,  to  take  part 
in  the  Battle  of  Monmouth.  Mary,  the  wife  of 
John  Hays,  went  to  her  New  Jersey  home  some 
time  prior  to  the  Battle  of  Monmouth,  and  the 
story  of  her  humane  services  to  the  troops  is  thus 

151 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

related  by  Judge  Biddle :  ' 'It  was  an  extremely 
hot  Sunday  and  many  of  the  soldiers  of  both 
armies  perished  from  exhaustion  and  thirst. 
While  the  battle  was  going  on,  Molly  carried 
water  to  the  Continental  troops  from  a  well  in 
order  to  relieve  their  thirst,  and  the  constant 
passing  to  and  fro  with  a  pitcher  in  her  hand  is 
what  has  given  her  the  sobriquet  by  which  she 
is  known  in  history.  The  underground  spring 
from  which  the  water  was  obtained  was  con- 
spicuously marked  some  years  ago  by  two 
wooden  signs  erected  beside  it,  on  each  of  which 
was  painted  'Mollie  Pitcher's  Well.'  " 

Perhaps  her  services  as  water-carrier  would 
soon  have  been  forgotten  if  she  had  done  nothing 
more  on  that  day  in  aid  of  the  great  cause,  but 
an  even  larger  service  was  yet  to  come.  As  the 
fight  raged,  she  discovered  that  her  husband  had 
been  wounded  and  that  there  was  no  one  to  serve 
the  cannon  to  which  he  had  been  detailed.  She 
at  once  took  his  place  at  the  gun  and  for  the 
balance  of  the  day,  so  long  as  needed,  acted  as 
cannoneer.  In  commemoration  of  her  heroic 
behavior,  upon  one  of  the  bronze  tablets  at  the 
base  of  the  handsome  monument  which  has  been 
placed  on  the  battle-field,  she  is  represented  in 
the  act  of  charging  a  cannon. ' '  After  the  Revo- 
lution, Mrs.  Mary  Hays  and  her  husband  re- 
turned to  Carlisle ;  in  1787  he  died,  and  in  1792 
the  widow  Hays  married  John  McCauley,  who 

152 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


died  in  the  course  of  twelve  years.  Left  a  widow 
a  second  time  Molly  earned  her  living  by  hard 
labor,  such  as  cleaning  and  whitewashing  in  pub- 
lic buildings,  as  appears  from  an  old  book  in  the 
County  Commissioners'  office  which  contains 
entries  of  payments  made  to  her.  ' '  Under  date 
of  March  29,  1811,  <  Molly  McCalley,  for  wash- 
ing and  scrubbing  the  court-house,  in  part— 
$15.00.'  ...  On  August  5,  1813,  an  order 
which  was  duly  paid  was  drawn  in  favor  of 
t  Molly  McCawley  &  others,  for  cleaning,  wash- 
ing and  whitewashing  the  public  buildings— 
$22.36.'  "  These  items  furnish  authentic  in- 
formation concerning  her  manner  of  obtaining  a 
livelihood  at  that  period  of  her  life. 

Some  of  the  confusion  with  regard  to  the 
identity  and  services  of  Molly  Pitcher  may  have 
been  due  to  the  fact  that  her  name,  after  her 
second  marriage,  was  spelled  in  several  different 
ways,  McCawley,  McCalley,  MeCauley  and 
M  'Kolly,  under  which  latter  name  a  pension  was 
granted  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania. 
Even  if  the  pension  was  granted  from  the  state 
treasury  "for  Molly  M 'Kolly  for  her  services 
during  the  Eevolutionary  War"  the  money  was 
designed  for  and  received  by  the  widow  Mc- 
Cauley;  who  as  a  young  woman  served  her 
country  and  was  then  called  Mollie  Pitcher. 
State  treasurers  do  not,  as  a  rule,  grant  pensions 
to  fictitious  characters  or  to  persons  little 

153 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

known,  and  at  that  time,  1822,  there  were  many 
residents  of  Carlisle  who  knew  all  about  Mrs. 
McCauley,  her  life  and  services,  and  could  then 
have  denied  the  whole  story,  if  they  knew  it 
to  be  false. 

Other  honors  than  those  gained  by  force  of 
arms  belong  to  Carlisle.  One  chronicler  spoke 
of  it  as  the  frontier  town  of  an  advancing  civ- 
ilization and  another  wrote  of  the  town  and  the 
section  surrounding  it  as  an  early  center  of 
peace  and  counsel.  This  was  literally  true  as 
hither  the  Indian  tribes  came  up  to  meet  the 
white  man  in  council,  as  they  had  come  to  Phila- 
delphia and  Germantown  in  early  days  of  the 
settlement,  and  later  to  Lancaster  and  other 
Pennsylvania  towns,  for  in  no  state  were  the 
natives  treated  so  justly  as  in  this  one  where, 
as  long  as  the  Quakers  had  control,  the  wise 
Founder's  resolve  "to  live  justly,  peaceably 
and  friendly ' '  with  the  children  of  the  forest  was 
carried  out. 

Pleasantly  situated  in  the  middle  of  a  fertile 
and  well-watered  valley,  Carlisle  offered  many 
attractions  as  a  place  of  residence.  In  addi- 
tion to  such  early  settlers  as  the  Wattses, 
Blaines,  Parkers,  Bairds,  Biddies,  Millers,  Al- 
exanders and  Eeeds,  there  came  hither  and 
identified  themselves  with  the  life  of  the  town 
men  of  distinction  from  elsewhere,  such  men  as 
Chief  Justice  Gibson,  who  found  relaxation  from 

154 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


legal  studies  in  the  delights  of  music  and  was 
never  known  to  leave  home  without  his  violin. 
Another  eminent  lawyer  who  made  his  home 
for  ten  years  in  Carlisle  was  James  Wilson,  a 
Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
one  of  the  leading  jurists  of  the  country.  Al- 
though Judge  Wilson  came  to  Carlisle  as  a 
young  man,  he  had  already  established  his  repu- 
tation as  a  legal  authority,  having  made  some 
important  rulings  in  land  claims,  notably  his  de- 
cision upon  the  warmly-disputed  claims  of  Con- 
necticut and  Pennsylvania  to  the  "Wyoming  set- 
tlements in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  latter 
state.  Judge  Wilson's  important  work  as  one 
of  the  f  ramers  of  the  State  and  of  the  National 
Constitution  was  performed  later,  after  his  re- 
moval to  Philadelphia. 

To  this  interesting  social  life,  which  was 
graced  by  the  presence  of  a  number  of  charming 
women  and  enriched  intellectually  by  the  fac- 
ulty of  the  recently-established  college,  the  Eev. 
Charles  Nisbet  came  from  Scotland  to  be  its  first 
president.  Whatever  attractions  other  visitors 
found  in  Carlisle,  nothing  in  its  social  or  re- 
ligious life  appealed  to  the  learned  Scotchman, 
who  seemed  to  have'  been  as  dour  as  Carlyle  in 
his  most  dyspeptic  state,  as  he  wrote  home  that 
he  found  ' '  everything  on  a  dead  level,  no  men  of 
learning  nor  taste,  and  of  religious  people  the 
fewest  of  all."  And  yet  at  this  time  Carlisle 

155 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

possessed  a  number  of  churches,  the  Episco- 
palians and  Presbyterians  having  stately  edi- 
fices in  Center  Square,  and  so  high  did  religious 
or  denominational  feeling  run  in  the  latter  body 
that  Mrs.  John  Bannister  Gibson  was  "read  out 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  permitting 
worldly  amusements  in  her  home. ' ' 

The  hospitable  Gibson  mansion,  where  the 
wit  of  the  host  and  the  beauty  of  the  hostess 
made  an  attractive  meeting  place  for  young  and 
old,  is  still  standing  on  the  corner  of  North  Han- 
over Street.  This  fine  old  residence  and  the 
Watts  house  on  Hanover  Street  with  its  beauti- 
ful Colonial  doorway  and  fine  carved  mantels 
give  one  some  idea  of  the  luxury  and  style  of 
Carlisle  houses  in  early  days.  Although  known 
as  the  Watts  house,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  David  Watts 
having  lived  there  for  many  years,  this  old  man- 
sion was  built  by  Colonel  Ephraim  Elaine,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  the  Cumberland  Valley. 
Colonel  Elaine,  a  great-grandfather  of  the  dis- 
tinguished statesman,  James  G.  Elaine,  was  him- 
self a  notable  person,  an  officer  of  distinction 
and  a  trusted  friend  of  Washington,  whom  he 
served  as  Commissary  General  of  the  Northern 
Department  during  the  last  four  years  of  the 
War  of  the  Eevolution.  This  house,  a  part  of 
which  is  now  used  as  his  office  by  Judge  Hen- 
derson, in  addition  to  its  fine  wainscoting  and 
exquisite  wood  carvings,  boasts  a  wonderful 

156 


DOORWAY  OF  HOUSE  OF  DAVID   WATTS  ON   HANOVER  STREET,  CARLISLE 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


landscape  paper  representing  various  scenes 
from  the  romantic  story  of  Paul  and  Virginia, 
which  has  been  on  the  wall  for  many  years  and 
has  been  the  delight  of  several  generations 
of  children. 

The  Penrose  house  on  Main  Street,  in  which 
members  of  the  family  still  live,  holds  many 
objects  of  interest. 

Another  spacious  old  mansion  on  the  Main 
Street,  with  a  side  garden  on  Bedford  Street,  is 
the  Thome  house,  with  its  beautiful  stairway, 
octagonal  rooms  in  which  the  mahogany  doors 
are  rounded  to  fit  the  walls,  and  wonderful  man- 
tels. A  pair  of  these  mantels  has  found  a 
home  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art 
through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Francis  P.  Gor- 
ham.  One  of  these,  the  more  elaborate  of  the 
two,  represents  Commodore  Perry's  victory  on 
Lake  Erie  in  1814,  a  favorite  design  at  that  time. 
This  stirring  scene  is  cleverly  treated  in  low 
relief  and  is  surrounded  by  a  delicate  tracery 
of  scrolls  and  flowers  set  in  a  beaded  panel. 
In  the  second  mantel  the  central  panel  repre- 
sents a  memorial  sarcophagus  upon  which  is 
inscribed,  "To  the  Memory  of  Departed 
Heroes."  These  and  other  beautiful  mantels  in 
the  old  house  are  not  Adam  specimens,  as  was 
thought  at  one  time,  but  are  the  work  of  Robert 
Wellford,  who  did  quite  a  large  business  in 
Philadelphia  in  the  early  years  of  the  last  cen- 

157 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

tury  at  96  South  Eighth  Street,  which  he  called 
"Original  American  Composition  Ornament 
Manufactory. ' '  The  work  certainly  reflects 
credit  upon  the  "composer,"  even  if  it  did  not 
quite  justify  his  pretentious  title. 

On  the  north  side  of  High,  between  Pitt  and 
West  Streets,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  old 
houses  in  Carlisle. 

The  Parker  house,  with  its  hospitable  por- 
tico, many-windowed  fagade  and  its  curved 
steps,  dates  back  to  the  early  years  of  the  last 
century,  when  it  was  owned  by  Isaac  Brown 
Parker,  who  came  from  Avondale,  Ireland,  when 
a  boy,  to  be  under  the  care  of  his  uncle,  John 
Brown,  Esq.,  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  sent  to 
Dickinson  College,  Carlisle;  later  studied  law 
with  Judge  Hamilton  in  Carlisle;  married  a 
niece  of  Mrs.  Hamilton's,  Maria  Boss  Veazey, 
from  Maryland,  and  built  or  rebuilt  an  old  stone 
house  bought  from  Doctor  Davidson  into  the 
spacious  mansion  that  now  stands  on  High 
Street.  The  building  materials  for  this  house 
were  selected  with  great  care  and  the  plans 
made  by  Mrs.  Parker,  who  doubtless  had  in  mind 
some  fine  old  homestead  in  her  own  state.  Mr. 
Isaac  B.  Parker,  after  inheriting  a  large  estate 
near  Philadelphia,  removed  to  that  city  and 
afterward  to  Burlington,  New  Jersey.  Mr. 
Parker's  son,  John  Brown  Parker,  lived  in  this 
house  until  his  death  in  1888.  Mr.  Parker 

158 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


was  married  twice;  his  first  wife  was  Miss 
Margaret  Brisbane,  and  his  second  wife, 
who  survived  him  and  lived  in  the  old  home 
until  her  death,  was  Miss  Sarah  J.  Eichards, 
of  Pittsburgh. 

A  little  farther  along  High  Street  are  the 
beautiful  grounds  of  Dickinson  College,  and  on 
the  same  side  of  the  street  are  the  residences 
of  the  Hon.  Edward  W.  Biddle  and  J.  Kirk 
B osier,  Esq.,  while  opposite  to  them  and  at 
the  corner  of  Mooreland  Avenue  are  the  fine 
house  and  extensive  grounds  of  the  late 
Johnston  Moore. 

Many  sojourners  in  Carlisle  have  doubtless 
wondered  why  a  Presbyterian  college  should 
have  been  named  after  a  Philadelphia  Quaker, 
John  Dickinson,  author  of  the  "Farmers  Let- 
ters" and  president  of  the  Supreme  Executive 
Council  of  Pennsylvania,  but  after  all  the  reason 
is  not  far  to  seek.  It  chanced  that  Mr.  Dickinson 
and  his  lovely  wife,  Mary  Norris,  while  making  a 
journey  by  carriage  to  the  western  part  of  the 
state,  came  as  far  as  Carlisle,  and  knowing 
something  of  the  old  town  and  its  people,  when 
the  subject  of  establishing  a  college  there  was 
being  considered,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  interested 
and  gave  liberally  in  lands  in  Adams  and  Cum- 
berland Counties.  He  also  donated  fifteen  hun- 
dred volumes  from  the  Fair  Hill  Library  to  the 
new  institution  of  learning. 

11  159 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Although  Mr.  Dickinson  was  much  interested 
in  the  project  of  establishing  a  college  in  Car- 
lisle and  the  initial  meeting  of  the  board  of 
trustees  was  held  at  his  house  in  Philadelphia 
in  May,  1783,  Judge  Biddle  says  that  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Eush  was  an  even  more  enthusiastic  ad- 
vocate of  the  project.  He  it  was  who  was  most 
influential  in  obtaining  a  charter  for  the  college 
and  in  securing  the  services  of  the  learned  Dr. 
Charles  Nisbet,  of  Scotland,  as  its  first  presi- 
dent, which  appears  from  a  voluminous  corre- 
spondence between  the  two  gentlemen. 

When  Doctor  Nisbet  and  his  family  reached 
Philadelphia  they  stopped  for  three  weeks  at 
the  home  of  Doctor  Rush  on  Second  Street  be- 
fore setting  forth  upon  the  long  journey  to  Car- 
lisle, which  seems  to  have  occupied  over  four 
days,  as  they  started  on  Thursday,  June  30th, 
and  did  not  reach  Carlisle  until  the  evening  of 
July  4th.  We  learn  from  Doctor  Nisbet 's  letter 
to  Doctor  Eush  that  there  was  a  stop-over  of  a 
day  and  night  at  Lancaster.  "We  reached  the 
Waggon  Inn  on  the  first  day, ' '  he  said,  <  '  and  ar- 
rived at  Lancaster  next  day  by  one  o'clock. 
There  we  were  constrained  to  stay  until  next 
day  by  the  hospitality  of  the  inhabitants.  We 
reached  York  the  third  day  and  stayed  there 
until  Monday.  I  preached  for  Mr.  Campbell  in 
the  afternoon  in  great  weakness  on  account  of 
the  heat.  We  left  York  on  Monday,  the  fourth, 

160 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


breakfasted  at  the  half-way  house,  and  were  met 
by  the  Light  Horse  belonging  to  Carlisle  at  the 
Yellow  Breeches  Creek,  by  whom  we  were  con- 
ducted to  the  Boiling  Springs  near  the  Iron 
Works.  Here  we  found  the  inhabitants  of  Car- 
lisle assembled  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  We  dined  in 
the  open  air  under  a  canopy  of  oaken  leaves, 
in  imitation  of  the  Jewish  Feast  of  Tab- 
ernacles, and  after  visiting  the  Iron  Works 
proceeded  in  the  evening  to  Carlisle  attended  by 
the  company. ' ' 1 

Philadelphia  had  much  to  do  with  the  estab- 
lishment of  this  college  at  Carlisle;  not  only 
was  Mr.  Dickinson  its  first  president,  but  upon 
its  board  were  such  influential  and  patriotic  citi- 
zens as  Dr.  Benjamin  Bush,  William  Bingham 
and  Henry  Hill.  James  Wilson,  the  learned  jur- 
ist, who  belonged  to  Philadelphia  as  well  as  Car- 
lisle, was  one  of  the  trustees,  and  Colonel  John 
Montgomery,  member  of  Congress  at  Annap- 
olis, and  General  John  Armstrong  were  both 
actively  interested  in  the  foundation  of  Dick- 
inson College.  When  Old  West,  one  of  the 
twelve  buildings  of  the  college,  was  nearly  com- 
pleted, a  fire  occurred  which  consumed  the 
building.  This  calamity  the  trustees  of  the  col- 
lege and  the  citizens  of  Carlisle  met  with  gen- 
erous subscriptions,  which  were  augmented  by 

1 "  The  Founding  and  Founders  of  Dickinson  College."  by 
the  Hon.  Edward  W.  Biddle. 

161 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

contributions  from  Thomas  Jefferson,  then 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  by  several 
members  of  Congress.  Old  West  soon  rose 
again  in  beauty,  and  as  it  stands  to-day  affords 
a  noble  example  of  academic  Colonial  architec- 
ture. As  we  wandered  through  the  lovely 
grounds  of  Dickinson  by  the  old  buildings, 
through  the  "Lover's  Lane"  and  other  shaded 
paths  for  the  use  of  pedestrians  less  amatory, 
we  were  reminded  of  the  many  distinguished 
men  who  have  come  forth  from  these  aca- 
demic groves,  and  of  the  interesting  pro- 
fessors that  Dickinson  has  included  in  her 
faculty.  High  up  in  the  list  of  the  il- 
lustrious sons  of  Dickinson  is  the  name  of  the 
late  Spencer  Fullerton  Baird,  whom  Carlisle 
claims  as  her  own,  although  Doctor  Baird  was 
not  born  there.  He,  however,  came  to  Carlisle 
at  an  early  age  with  his  mother,  was  a  graduate 
of  Dickinson  and  professor  there  for  some  years 
before  he  was  called  to  national  service  and  na- 
tional honors  as  secretary  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institute  in  Washington.  Although  Professor 
Baird  may  not,  like  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  have 
spoken  of  the  birds  and  beasts  as  his  "little 
brothers,"  he  seems  to  have  been  equally  fond 
of  all  flying,  moving  creatures,  and  was  wont  to 
carry  animate  specimens  about  in  his  pocket 
and  even  allowed  his  small  daughter  to  have  a 
black  snake  as  a  pet. 

Another  noted  graduate  of  Dickinson  was  the 

162 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


philanthropic,  public-spirited  citizen  and  vol- 
uminous writer,  Moncure  D.  Conway,  in  whose 
honor  the  late  Andrew  Carnegie  gave  Conway 
Hall  to  the  college.  In  his  pleasant  recollections 
of  his  college  days  in  Carlisle,  Doctor  Conway 
speaks  with  enthusiasm  of  the  faculty  of  Dick- 
inson. Of  William  Allen,  professor  of  chem- 
istry, who  also  included  such  widely  diverse 
branches  as  rhetoric  and  logic  in  his  repertoire, 
he  says  that  Dickinson  was  fortunate  in  having 
the  services  of  so  versatile  a  scholar  as  Mr. 
Allen,  adding  that  "in  his  class  in  logic  the  text- 
book was  Whateley  's,  but  Mr.  Allen  was  an  abler 
man  than  Whateley. "  Dr.  John  McClintock, 
professor  of  Greek,  who  was  acting  presi- 
dent for  a  time  after  the  death  of  President 
Emory,  was  one  of  Doctor  Conway 's  well- 
beloved  professors,  and  so  clever  a  teacher  that 
it  was  currently  reported  that  he  could  make 
Greek  interesting.  Professor  Baird  was,  at  this 
time,  the  youngest  of  the  faculty.  "He  was," 
said  Doctor  Conway,  "the  beloved  professor 
and  the  ideal  student. M  The  weekly  rambles 
with  Doctor  Baird,  when  he  introduced  his  class 
to  his  intimates  in  the  world  of  nature,  were 
looked  forward  to  by  his  students  as  among  the 
joys  of  the  coming  spring. 

Nor  was  the  social  life  of  'Carlisle  purely 
academic;  there  was  here,  as  in  all  old  Penn- 
sylvania and  southern  towns,  a  gayer  social 
life,  and  from  an  old  copy  of  "The  Subscription 

163 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Paper  of  the  Carlisle  Dancing  Assembly, "  re- 
cently unearthed  by  a  local  historian,  Dr. 
Charles  F.  Himes,  it  appears  that  the  young 
people  of  this  Scotch  Presbyterian  settlement 
danced  as  gaily  as  those  of  Quaker  Philadelphia. 
Indeed,  the  rules  for  this  assembly  are  so  like 
those  of  the  Philadelphia  Dancing  Assembly  of 
1748  as  to  lead  one  to  conclude  that  the  Carlisle 
assembly  was  modeled  after  the  plan  of  the 
older  association.  This  seems  more  probable  in 
view  of  the  constant  communication  between  the 
two  places.  In  the  Carlisle  assemblies,  as  in 
those  of  Philadelphia,  ladies  were  treated  with 
so  much  distinction  that  they  were  not  permitted 
to  subscribe.  "In  Carlisle,  they  were,"  said 
Dr.  Himes,  "delicately  invited  by  having  season 
tickets  sent  them  by  the  managers. "  Delicacy 
of  this  sort  would  certainly  be  appreciated  to- 
day!  The  manager  of  the  assembly  was  a  very 
important  person,  and  "drest  in  a  little  brief 
authority,"  he  ruled  the  dancers  with  a  rod  of 
iron.  The  Marquis  de  Chastellux  relates  an 
amusing  story  of  a  sometime  manager  of  the 
Philadelphia  assemblies  who  exercised  his  of- 
fice with  so  much  severity  that  it  is  told  of  him 
that  a  young  lady  who  was  figuring  in  a  country 
dance,  having  forgot  her  turn  by  talking  with  a 
friend,  he  came  up  to  her  and  called  out  aloud, 
1  '  Give  over,  Miss,  take  care  what  you  are  about ! 
Do  you  think  you  are  here  for  your  pleasure? " 
As  in  the  Philadelphia  assemblies,  each  set 

164 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


was  to  consist  of  ten  couples,  those  ladies  who 
arrived  first  forming  the  first  set.  Every  set  of 
ladies  drew  for  places,  but  the  managers  could 
place  strangers  and  brides  at  the  head  of  the 
dances.  The  arrangements  were  all  dignified 
and  formal,  as  befitted  the  stately  minuet  that 
was  danced  by  ladies  no  less  stately  and  to  the 
music  of  the  fiddle,  which  was  always  in  evidence 
in  the  dance  of  that  period. 

That  the  Carlisle  dancing  assemblies  were 
extremely  popular  we  learn  from  various 
sources.  Several  letters  from  the  family  of 
Miss  Emmeline  Knox  Parker  go  to  prove  their 
popularity  among  young  men  of  the  time.  In  a 
letter  addressed  by  Mr.  James  Hamilton  in  Car- 
lisle to  John  Brown,  Esq.,  Pine  Street,  Phila- 
delphia, he  says :  "  Almost  all  the  young  men  of 
this  place  have  subscribed  to  the  Dancing  As- 
sembly, 8  nights  for  8  Dollars,  and  which  will 
be  supported  by  the  first  Inhabitants  of  the 
place,  perhaps  one  night  in  the  week  might  be 
proper  to  divert  to  such  an  amusement,  as  young 
people  if  refused  a  reasonable  gratification,  will 
frequently  seek  a  resource.  Your  nephew  will 
not  attempt  to  subscribe  without  your  appro- 
bation. If  you  agree  to  it,  it  should  be  on  the 
condition  of  withdrawing  early,  and  making  up 
by  increased  diligence  if  possible, for  the  portion 
of  time  so  appropriated. "  To  this  request  so 
politely  and  discreetly  worded,  Mr.  Brown 
naturally  gave  his  consent,  and  young  Mr.  Isaac 

165 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

B.  Parker  joined  the  gay  throng  at  the  modest 
rate  of  one  dollar  for  each  night. 

From  these  letters,  from  many  others,  and 
from  diaries  of  the  time,  it  appears  that  Carlisle, 
in  common  with  Chambersburg,  York,  Lancas- 
ter and  other  southern  Pennsylvania  towns  was 
in  constant  communication  with  Philadelphia. 
Many  links,  social,  business  and  political,  united 
these  towns  with  the  more  important  center,  and 
we  learn,  on  good  authority,  that  the  leading 
citizens  of  Carlisle  journeyed  to  Philadelphia 
for  the  latest  fashions.  Apropos  of  fashions, 
it  appears  that  some  high-born  dames  of  this  old 
town  were  quite  independent  of  its  decrees.  It 
is  said  of  one  of  these  ladies,  Mrs.  Lydia  Spen- 
cer Biddle,  that  when  her  granddaughters  would 
object  to  wearing  some  garment,  which  she  con- 
sidered suitable,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not 
the  fashion,  they  would  be  met  with  the  crushing 
reply:  "When  I  was  young,  anything  that  Miss 
Spencer  wore  was  the  fashion/'  This  valiant 
lady,  the  grandmother  of  Professor  Spencer  F. 
Baird,  removed  to  Carlisle  after  the  death  of 
her  husband,  William  Ma^funn  Biddle.  Mrs. 
Biddle 's  daughters,  Mrs.  Samuel  Baird  and 
Mrs.  Charles  B.  Penrose,  both  lived  in  Carlisle 
for  some  years,  and  to  add  to  the  Biddle  settle- 
ment there  her  youngest  daughter,  Mary,  the 
wife  of  Mayor  William  Blaney,  of  the  Engineer 
Corps,  established  her  home  in  Carlisle  after 
the  death  of  her  husband.  A  younger  brother, 

166 


A  PICTURESQUE  OLD  TOWN 


Edward  M.  Biddle,  married  Juliana  Watts,  of 
Carlisle,  and  became  the  head  of  what  are  gen- 
erally known  as  the  Carlisle  Biddies,  to  distin- 
guish them  from  the  very  large  family  in  Phila- 
delphia, all  deriving  their  ancestry  from  the 
same  source  and  marked  by  many  of  the  same 
characteristics.  The  gayety  of  the  old  town  was 
naturally  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  a  number  of 
officers  were  quartered  at  the  Carlisle  Barracks, 
dashing  young  officers  from  North  and  South. 
As  they  galloped  through  the  town  on  their  spir- 
ited horses  we  can  imagine  the  bright  eyes  of 
fair  damsels  following  them  from  the  windows 
of  some  fine  old  house  or  even  waving  them 
a  greeting  from  some  doorway.  Fortunate  were 
those  who  were  invited  to  enter  these  hospitable 
mansions  and  partake  of  such  delectable  repasts 
as  Mrs.  Dillon  has  so  feelingly  described,  with 
such  fried  chicken  and  waffles  as  come  only  from 
the  hands  of  southern  cooks  or  from  those  who 
have  learned  the  secrets  of  their  art  from  these 
turbaned  chefs  of  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  pleasant  social  life, 
studious  and  gay,  there  came  the  rumblings  of 
distant  and  then  near  thunder,  until  in  1861  the 
storm  burst  and  the  sons  of  these  lovely  cities 
of  the  plain  went  forth  to  war.  Many  of  the 
students  of  Dickinson  were  from  the  South  and 
naturally  returned  to  their  own  states,  and  the 
gay  cavalry  officers  quitted  what  seemed  like 
playing  at  soldiers  to  enter  into  the  stern  real- 
ities of  war. 

167 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

That  the  hospitality  of  Carlisle  was  appre- 
ciated by  some  of  the  young  southern  officers 
and  students  was  proved  at  the  time  of  the  Con- 
federate invasion  in  more  than  one  instance. 
General  Ewell,  who  had  been  stationed  at  the 
barracks  before  the  war,  although  he  made  ex- 
travagant demands  for  rations,  allowed  no  vio- 
lence or  outrage  during  his  occupation  of  the 
town,  according  to  the  testimony  of  old  inhabi- 
tants. "  At  one  prominent  home  the  family  had 
retired  that  anxious  Saturday  night,  only  to  be 
aroused  by  a  ring  at  the  bell.  On  asking  who 
wished  entrance  and  receiving  a  well-known 
name  in  reply,  the  ladies  timidly  said,  'Do  you 
come  as  friend  or  as  foe!'  *  Always  as  friend 
to  this  house,'  was  the  quick  response."  Which 
was  pleasing  evidence  of  a  good  memory  as  well 
as  a  grateful  heart  at  this  critical  time. ' ' 2 

Our  minds  still  dwelling  upon  the  many  asso- 
ciations of  this  old  town,  we  motored  through 
the  Main  Street  and  on  toward  the  highway 
leading  to  Harrisburg,  stopping  on  our  way  at 
the  handsome  and  well-equipped  library  founded 
in  memory  of  a  well-known  citizen  of  Carlisle, 
Mr.  J.  Herman  B osier.  Standing  in  this  beau- 
tiful library  we  could  not  but  wish  that  every 
town  in  Pennsylvania  of  any  size  had  a  library 
approaching  this  in  equipment,  for  only  by 
means  of  such  libraries  can  the  education  and 
uplift  of  the  rising  generation  be  attained. 

3  "  Carlisle  Old  and  New." 


VIII 
FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

A  LOVER  of  his  state  and  one  especially  de- 
voted to  his  own  portion  of  it,  finds  fault  with 
the  plans  for  a  motor  trip  through  middle  and 
southern  Pennsylvania,  in  which  Carlisle  and 
the  delightful  route  from  Harrisburg  to  Car- 
lisle has  been  left  out. 

'  '  The  route, ' '  he  says,  ' '  to  Carlisle  from  Har- 
risburg is  over  the  State  Highway,  and  the  sec- 
tion between  Harrisburg  and  Carlisle  is  one 
of  the  finest  pieces  of  construction  ever  done  by 
the  State  Highway  Department.  This  route 
is  the  logical  one  from  Harrisburg  to  Get- 
tysburg and  is  generally  followed  by  tourists 
and  travelers." 

We  quite  agreed  with  this  writer's  estimate 
of  the  charms  of  this  part  of  the  Highway,  which 
is  also  the  trolley  route,  and  passes  by  Boiling 
Springs,  a  public  park  and  pleasure  resort,  and 
many  other  places.  All  approaches  to  Harris- 
burg  are  attractive,  whether  by  train,  trolley 
or  motor;  but  the  most  beautiful  by  far  is  by 
the  Lincoln  Highway  and  across  the  great  spans 
of  the  bridge,  whose  central  piers  stand  on  a 
large  island  in  the  Susquehanna.  From  this 

169 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

bridge  the  many  spires  of  the  town  rose  before 
us,  all  dominated  by  the  dome  of  the  Capitol, 
which,  standing  on  its  hilltop,  shining  white 
against  the  blue  sky  and  bathed  in  sunny  light, 
as  we  saw  it  this  afternoon,  seemed  to  us  in 
beauty  only  second  to  the  National  Capitol  on 
its  famous  hilltop.  The  river  drive  along  which 
we  sped  is  the  favorite  residential  street  of 
Harrisburg,  which  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  for 
no  more  beautiful  site  for  a  town  house  could 
be  found.  Here  is  the  Executive  Mansion  and 
also  the  fine  old  houses  of  the  Camerons,  Halde- 
mans,  Pearsons  and  other  early  residents  of 
Harrisburg.  Indeed,  the  banks  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  seem  to  have  been  considered  a  desirable 
situation  for  a  town,  at  an  early  date,  as  John 
Harris,  who  came  here  about  1719,  found  several 
Indian  villages  on  or  near  the  present  site  of  the 
capital,  and  it  is  said  that  in  answer  to  a  given 
signal  sixty  or  seventy  warriors  could  be  assem- 
bled at  the  village  of  Peixtan,  where  Harrisburg 
now  stands.  The  Indians  of  this  region  belonged 
to  the  Six  Nations,  whose  villages  were  to  be 
found  farther  north  and  south  on  the  Susque- 
hanna  and  at  the  mouths  of  the  Conodoguinet 
and  Yellow  Breeches  Creeks. 

The  first  John  Harris  came  from  Yorkshire, 
England,  and  lived  in  Chester  and  Lancaster 
Counties  before  he  settled  in  this  region,  where 
he  was  the  first  English  trader.  Here  he  estab- 

170 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

lished  his  Ferry,  which  soon  became  so  well 
known  that  letters  from  abroad  with  no  other 
address  than  John  Harris,  Harris '  Ferry,  N. 
America,  frequently  reached  him.  He  had  two 
houses  on  the  Susquehanna,  one  a  trading  post 
surrounded  by  sheds,  in  which  were  stored  skins 
and  furs  obtained  by  traffic  with  the  Indians, 
who  brought  them  from  the  western  country; 
the  other  house  was  his  home,  farther  back  from 
the  river,  surrounded  by  a  great  stockade.  Mrs. 
Harris,  of  English  birth  like  her  husband,  seems 
to  have  been  a  quick-witted  woman,  possessed  of 
the  character  and  courage  needed  in  pioneer  life. 

The  gate  of  the  stockade  was  usually  care- 
fully guarded  by  a  man  detailed  for  the  pur- 
pose. One  night  while  the  family  were  at  sup- 
per, this  man  with  them,  the  gate  was  by  some 
mistake  left  open.  Suddenly  the  report  of  a 
gun  was  heard,  which  showed  that  Indians  were 
near.  Mrs.  Harris  quickly  extinguished  every 
light  in  the  house  and  the  family  was  unmolested. 

John  Harris  is  said  to  have  lived  on  fairly 
good  termsi  with  the  surrounding  Indians;  but 
one  thrilling  experience  of  his  is  among  the 
cherished  traditions  of  Harrisburg.  It  seems 
that  a  band  of  roving  Indians  from  the  Caro- 
linas  halted  at  his  trading  post  to  exchange  their 
goods,  probably  for  rum,  of  which  the  savages 
had  already  had  too  much.  They  became  riot- 
ous in  their  drunken  revelry  and  demanding 

171 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

more  rum  were  refused  by  Mr.  Harris,  who  be- 
gan to  fear  harm  from  his  visitors.  Not  to  be 
denied  they  again  demanded  "Lum,"  and  seiz- 
ing him  they  took  him  to  a  mulberry  tree  near  by 
and  bound  him  to  it,  intending  to  burn  him  after 
they  had  helped  themselves  to  his  stores.  Before 
the  savages  were  able  to  carry  out  their  evil 
designs,  some  friendly  Indians  arrived  upon  the 
scene,  having  been  warned  of  the  danger  to  his 
master  by  Hercules,  a  faithful  colored  servant 
of  Mr.  Harris.  It  is  said  that  these  friendly 
Indians  had  come  to  the  rescue  of  Mr.  Harris 
in  consequence  of  some  act  of  kindness  which 
they  had  received  from  him. 

The  grave  of  John  Harris  may  be  seen  on  the 
river  bank  nearly  opposite  the  Cameron  house 
and  is  now  enclosed  by  a  railing.  He  was  buried 
under  the  mulberry  tree  to  which  he  had  once 
been  bound,  and  at  his  feet  rest  the  remains  of 
the  faithful  Hercules,  who  had  saved  his  mas- 
ter's life.  There  are  men  still  living  in  Harris- 
burg  who  remember  the  stump  of  the  historic 
mulberry  tree  which  residents  of  Harrisburg  pre- 
served for  years  by  applying  cement  and  plaster, 
and  later  a  shoot  from  the  original  tree  flour- 
ished and  bore  fruit  to  which  children  strolling 
along  the  river  bank  would  stop  and  help  them- 
selves. The  grave  of  a  Seneca  Half  Chief  is 
said  to  be  in  or  near  the  old  Harris  lot,  but  if  so 
it  is  unmarked.  The  second  John  Harris,  who 

172 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

founded  the  city  of  Harrisburg,  is  buried  at  Pax- 
ton,  in  the  graveyard  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

John  Harris,  Jr.,  must  have  been  a  man  of 
remarkable  foresight  and  vision,  as  he  seems 
to  have  grasped  the  possibilities  of  the  city  of 
Harrisburg  and  is  said  to  have  predicted  that 
it  would  become  the  center  of  business  in  this 
section  and  in  time  the  seat  of  government 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Harris  was  a  patriotic  American,  but 
when  the  question  of  the  independence  of  the 
Colonies  was  agitated  he  hesitated,  as  did  John 
Dickinson  and  other  patriots,  feeling  that  so 
radical  a  measure  was  somewhat  premature  and 
doubting  the  ability  of  the  Colonies  to  with- 
stand the  power  of  Great  Britain.  When,  how- 
ever, the  Declaration  was  adopted,  his  son,  Rob- 
ert  Harris,  said  that  his  father  took  him  and  his 
mother  aside  and  read  to  them  the  Declaration 
"from  a  Philadelphia  newspaper/'  When  he 
concluded  it,  he  said:  "The  act  is  now  done;  I 
must  take  sides  either  for  or  against  our 
country.  The  war  in  which  we  are  engaged  can- 
not be  carried  on  without  money.  We  have  3000 
pounds  in  the  house,  and  if  you  are  agreed  I 
will  take  the  money  to  Philadelphia  and  put  it 
into  the  hands  of  Robert  Morris  to  carry  on  the 
war.  If  we  succeed  in  obtaining  our  indepen- 
dence, we  may  lose  the  money,  as  the  Govern- 
ment may  not  be  able  to  pay  it  back,  but  we  will 

173 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

get  our  land."  She  agreed,  and  he  carried  the 
money  to  Philadelphia  and  deposited  it  in 
the  Treasury.1 

There  is  a  story  to  the  effect  that  the  elder 
Harris  built  the  substantial  stone  mansion  still 
standing  near  Harris  Park,  but  the  date  of  its 
erection,  1771,  which  is  given  on  the  capstone, 
entirely  controverts  that  theory.  This  house, 
built  by  John  Harris,  Jr.,  may  have  been  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  old  Harris  house  with  its 
stockade.  It  remained  in  possession  of  the  Har- 
ris family  until  about  1838,  when  it  was  pur- 
chased by  Col.  Thomas  Elder  and,  at  his  death, 
by  the  Eev.  Beverly  E.  Waugh  for  the  use  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Female  College,  of  which  he 
was  principal.  Finally  the  executors  of  the  Eev- 
erend  Waugh 's  estate  sold  the  house  to  Simon 
Cameron,  who  remodeled  it,  and  with  so  much 
taste  that  it  presented  much  the  same  appear- 
ance as  the  original  building.  If  these  ancient 
walls  could  speak,  they  would  have  many 
an  interesting  tale  '  to  tell,  as  the  house 
passed  through  many  hands.  It  was,  at  one 
time  owned  by  Mr.  Jacob  M.  Haldeman,  a 
grandson  of  Jacob  Haldeman,  of  Neufchatel, 
Switzerland,  the  founder  of  the  American  fam- 
ily. Mr.  Jacob  M.  Haldeman,  after  being  en- 
gaged in  the  iron  business  with  great  success, 

1U  History  of  the  Cumberland  Valley,"  by  Harriet  Wylie 
Stewart. 

174 


HALDEMAN-CAMERON  HOUSE,   FRONT  STREET,  HARRISBURG 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

made  his  home  in  Harrisburg.  Mrs.  Haldeman, 
a  daughter  of  Samuel  Jacobs,  was  born  at  Mount 
Hope  Furnace,  Lancaster  County.  I  was  glad 
to  see  the  old  mansion  again,  as  it  had  an  espe- 
cial interest  to  me.  My  earliest  recollection  of 
Harrisburg  is  of  a  stop  overnight  at  Mrs.  Halde- 
man 's  with  my  father,  who  was  a  warm  friend 
of  the  Haldeman  family.  Mr.  Haldeman  was 
not  living  at  this  time ;  but  his  widow  impressed 
my  childish  mind  as  the  most  wonderful  old 
lady  I  had  ever  seen  and  the  most  elaborately 
dressed.  Mrs.  William  Haly,  Mrs.  Haldeman 's 
married  daughter,  took  me  under  her  especial 
care  and  fascinated  me  by  the  quickness  with 
which  she  moved,  her  ready  wit  and  warmth  of 
manner  like  an  Irish  woman,  she  seemed  then 
and  ever  after,  a  little  woman  with  a  laughing 
face,  a  bright  color  in  her  cheeks,  and  with  the 
smallest  feet  I  had  ever  seen  on  a  grown  woman. 
I  remember  making  her  laugh  when  I  asked  her 
if  a  pair  of  slippers  by  her  bedside  belonged 
to  a  child.  Mr.  William  Haly,  I  have  heard,  had 
a  most  tragic  death,  having  perished  in  a  fire  in 
a  hotel  in  Philadelphia  many  years  since. 

One  afternoon  some  of  my  friends  took  me 
through  the  fine  park  and  by  the  reservoir  which 
furnishes  the  town  with  an  abundant  supply 
of  pure  water.  Another  afternoon  we  motored 
to  Marietta,  south  of  Harrisburg  on  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  a  pretty  old  town,  with  the  houses 
12  175 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

quite  near  the  street  after  the  Pennsylvania 
fashion.  They  tell  us  that  the  houses  were  so 
placed  in  pioneer  days  as  a  protection  against 
the  Indians,  and  this  was  the  reason  given  us 
for  the  same  placing  of  the  houses  in  the  old 
French-Canadian  villages.  There  the  houses, 
close  together  and  near  the  road,  extended  for 
miles,  the  garden  and  sometimes  large  farms 
lying  back  of  them  for  some  distance.  A  good 
reason  this,  for  an  arrangement  that  did  not 
add  to  the  beauty  of  the  town,  safety  being  of 
more  importance  than  beauty. 

Some  hours,  one  morning,  we  spent  in  the 
Capitol,  and  although  we  had  seen  it  many  times 
we  were  impressed  as  never  before  with  the 
noble  proportions  of  the  entrance  hall  and  ro- 
tunda and  with  the  infinite  care  that  had  been 
taken  with  the  selection  of  rare  marbles  and 
woods  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Some  of  the 
heavy  elaborate  chandeliers  in  the  Hall  of  Bep- 
resentatives  we  would  cheerfully  have  dis- 
pensed with,  and  we  were  glad  to  turn  from 
them  to  admire  again  Miss  Violet  Oakley's 
interesting  mural  paintings  in  the  Governor's 
reception  room. 

Beautiful  as  are  the  Capitol,  the  State  Li- 
brary and  other  new  buildings  in  Harrisburg, 
my  chief  interest  was  in  the  old  homes  which  are 
associated  so  closely  with  the  history  of  the  state 
and  the  nation.  Among  these  is  the  Maclay 

176 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

house  on  Front  Street,  as  this  lovely  drive  and 
promenade  is  called.  Mr.  William  Mac-lay,  first 
United  States  Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  was 
the  owner  of  this  fine  house  with  its  Colo- 
nial portico,  and  lived  here  during  Washing- 
ton's administration  and  for  many  years  after. 
Mr.  Maclay  married  a  daughter  of  John  Harris, 
Jr.,  and  is  said  to  have  helped  his  father-in-law 
to  lay  out  the  city  of  Harrisburg.  This  gentle- 
man naturally  wished  the  national  capital  to 
be  placed  in  his  own  state,  in  Harrisburg  pref- 
erably, and  when  he  found  that  the  choice  of  the 
President  and  Cabinet  was  tending  toward  the 
ten-mile  square  on  the  Potomac,  he  expressed 
himself  with  much  bitterness  and  not  a  little 
dry  humor.  Many  other  public  men  shared  Mr. 
Maclay 's  views  with  regard  to  the  placing  of 
the  capital,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  this  state, 
whose  chief  city  had  been  the  scene  of  the  most 
important  legislation  during  the  Revolution, 
and  whose  able  financiers,  Robert  Morris  and 
Thomas  Willing,  had  supplied  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  with  the  sinews  of  war,  should  have 
been  favorably  considered  in  this  connection. 
President  Washington  came  in  for  a  full  share 
of  criticism  at  the  hands  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Senator,  being,  as  he  thought,  too  much  under 
the  influence  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who,  to 
Mr.  Maclay 's  mind,  represented  the  arch-enemy 
of  true  democracy.  Indeed,  Senator  Maclay 's 

177 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

expressions  with  regard  to  the  President  are 
so  violent  that  we  wonder  now  that  he  took  the 
risk  of  confiding  them  to  his  diary.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  exclaimed:  "If  there  is  treason  in  the 
wish,  I  retract  it;  but  would  to  God  this  same 
General  Washington  was  in  heaven !  We  would 
not  have  brought  him  forward  as  the  constant 
cover  to  every  unconstitutional  and  unrepub- 
lican  act. ' ' 

This  in  itself  was  an  indirect  compli- 
ment to  the  character  of  Washington,  as  it 
plainly  revealed  this  Senator's  opinion  as  to 
the  final  destination  of  the  much-criticized 
Chief  Executive. 

When  Mr.  Maclay  realized  that  the  location 
of  the  national  capital  was  bound  up  with  the 
Assumption  Bill,  and  that  the  President  had 
been  inoculated  with  the  "funding  disease,"  he 
exclaimed  in  hot  indignation:  "Alas  that  the 
affection — nay,  almost  admiration — of  the  peo- 
ple should  meet  so  unworthy  a  return !  Here  are 
their  best  interests  sacrificed  to  the  vain  whim 
of  fixing  Congress  and  a  great  commercial  town 
(so  opposite  to  the  genius  of  the  Southern 
planter)  on  the  Potomac,"  etc. 

According  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  statement  in 
his  "Anas,  "the  site  of  the  capital  was  not  really 
decided  in  Congress,  but  over  the  Virginia 
statesman's  dinner-table.  It  may  have  been  to 
this  dinner  that  Mr.  Maclay  referred  when  he 

178 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

wrote  in  his  New  York  diary,  July  20,  1790: 
' l  There  was  a  dinner  this  day  which  I  had  no  no- 
tice of,  and  never  thought  of  such  a  thing. ' '  Mr. 
Jefferson,  then  Secretary  of  State,  had  recently 
returned  from  abroad.  Colonel  Hamilton  met 
him  in  front  of  the  President's  house,  and  as 
the  two  walked  up  and  down  the  street  together, 
Hamilton  explained  to  Jefferson  the  strained 
relations  between  the  North  and  South.  If,  he 
argued,  the  North  accepted  the  bill  for  the  as- 
sumption of  the  domestic  debt  and  secured  the 
"residence  of  the  capital"  for  a  northern  city, 
Mr.  Hamilton  clearly  saw  before  the  country 
dangers  and  difficulties,  even  the  secession  of  the 
Southern  states ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the 
war  debt  of  twenty  millions  were  not  assumed 
by  the  general  government,  it  was  feared  that 
the  Eastern  or  creditor  states  might  secede  from 
the  federation.  Plainly,  a  compromise  was  nec- 
essary in  the  opinion  of  the  wise  and  far-seeing 
Hamilton.  Mr.  Jefferson  pleaded  ignorance  of 
the  matter,  as  he  had  been  abroad.  He  would, 
he  said,  be  pleased  if  Colonel  Hamilton  would 
dine  with  him  the  next  day,  meet  a  few  Vir- 
ginians and  discuss  the  question  calmly  over 
Madeira  and  punch.  Like  many  other  important 
matters,  the  site  of  the  capital  was  decided  over 
a  glass  of  wine,  for  before  the  guests  quitted 
the  table  a  compromise  was  agreed  upon,  and 
in  this  case  one  that  the  nation  has  never  had 
reason  to  regret. 

179 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

And  thus,  whether  for  good  or  ill,  Harris- 
burg  lost  its  chance  of  being  the  capital  of  the 
Kepublic,  and  Mr.  Maclay 's  animadversions 
were  all  to  no  purpose.  His  fine  old  house  still 
stands  on  the  river  bank,  but  is  no  longer  in  the 
possession  of  the  Maclay  s.  A  daughter  of  Sen- 
ator Maclay  married  Dr.  Henry  Hall ;  their  son, 
William  Maclay  Hall,  a  lawyer,  laid  out  Lewis- 
town  and  became  one  of  the  brilliant  advocates 
of  the  Juniata  Valley.  Mr.  Hall  afterwards 
studied  for  the  ministry  and  for  soune  years 
presided  over  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Bed- 
ford, Pennsylvania. 

An  evening  in  Harrisburg  never  forgotten 
by  those  who  were  in  the  confidence  of  the  chief 
actors  in  the  drama  was  that  of  February  22, 
1861.  Governor  Curtin,  Colonel  Alexander  K. 
McClure  and  Major  William  B.  Wilson  have  all 
given  graphic  and  interesting  descriptions  of 
that  eventful  afternoon  and  evening,  when  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  his  party  were  on  their  way  to 
Washington.  The  story,  as  they  told  it,  is  known 
to  many  persons,  but  within  a  few  months  the 
diary  of  Miss  Margaret  Williams,  who  was  with 
her  father  in  Harrisburg  at  this  time,  has  come 
into  my  hands,  and  while  agreeing  in  all  points 
with  the  account  given  by  the  other  raconteurs, 
adds  some  intimate,  human  touches  that  could 
only  come  from  the  pen  of  a  woman. 

Miss  Williams  is  the  daughter  of  the  Hon. 

180 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

Thomas  Williams,  of  Pittsburgh,  an  able  law- 
yer and  an  eloquent  speaker,  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature  in  1861  and  among  those  ap- 
pointed to  accompany  Mr.  Lincoln  to  Washing- 
ton. She  and  her  sister  Agnes,  afterwards  the 
wife  of  Henry  Pemberton  Senior,  of  Philadel- 
phia, were  naturally  the  recipients  of  many 
courtesies,  which  Miss  Williams  speaks  of  so 
modestly  in  her  charming  narrative. 

Of  the  reception  of  the  Presidential  party 
in  Harrisburg,  after  leaving  Philadelphia  in 
the  morning  and  making  short  stops  at  Lan- 
caster and  other  towns  en  route,  Miss  Wil- 
liams says : 

" Harrisburg  was  reached  at  two  o'clock,  the 
arrival  being  announced  by  firing  a  salute,  and 
as  the  President-elect  appeared  on  the  platform 
he  was  greeted  with  enthusiastic  applause  and 
immediately  conducted  to  the  waiting  barouche 
with  six  white  horses.  Eeaching  the  Jones 
House,  on  the  Square,  he  went  to  the  bal- 
cony and  was  introduced  to  the  people  by 
Governor  Curtin  in  the  presence  of  more 
than  five  thousand. ' ' 

During  the  reception  ' '  which  took  place  in  the 
parlors  of  the  Hotel,  after  that  in  the  Hall  of 
the  Representatives,  Colonel  Sumner  presented 
to  us  the  young  men  of  the  party,  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln  asked  to  have  us  introduced  to  her,  and 
then  invited  us,  through  my  father,  to  join  the 

181 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

party  for  Washington.  We  had  each  passed  our 
twentieth  milestone,  and,  of  course,  were  thrilled 
with  the  prospect,  and  accepted  the  invitation 
with  pleasure  and  expected  to  leave  Harrisburg 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  party  the  follow- 
ing morning  at  nine  o'clock  for  Baltimore. " 

While  Miss  Williams  and  her  sister  were 
making  their  plans  for  the  next  day,  a  very  im- 
portant dinner  was  being  given  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
by  Governor  Curtin.  He  and  Colonel  McClure 
both  spoke  of  this  dinner  as  a  very  dismal  affair, 
the  conversation  turning  on  the  President's  trip 
to  Washington  the  next  day,  and  the  warnings 
that  had  been  given  of  a  plan  to  assassinate  Mr. 
Lincoln  at  Baltimore.  Of  this  dinner  and  the 
events  following  it,  Colonel  McClure  says : 

"Dinner  was  hastily  served,  when  the  ser- 
vants were  cleared  from  the  dining-hall,  and 
Governor  Curtin  stated  the  facts  to  the  dining 
guests,  and  insisted  that  Lincoln's  programme 
should  be  changed.  Every  one  present  promptly 
responded  in  approval,  and  the  only  silent  man 
at  the  table  was  Lincoln.  I  sat  near  enough  to 
him  to  watch  and  study  his  face,  and  there  was 
not  a  sign  of  agitation  upon  it,  and  when  he  was 
called  upon  to  give  his  views  it  was  at  once  made 
evident  to  all  that  he  thought  much  more  of  com- 
manding the  respect  and  honor  of  the  nation 
than  of  preserving  his  life.  His  answer  was 
substantially  and,  I  think  exactly,  in  these 

182 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

words :  *I  cannot  consent.  What  would  the  na- 
tion think  of  its  President  stealing  into  its  Capi- 
tol like  a  thief  in  the  night  1 '  Scott  was  a  master 
alike  in  keenness  of  perception  and  swiftness 
of  execution.  He  at  once  directed  the  Governor 
to  take  Lincoln  down  to  the  front  of  the  hotel, 
where  there  were  multitudes  awaiting  to  cheer 
them,  and  loudly  call  a  carriage  to  take  them  to 
the  Executive  Mansion,  as  that  would  be  the 
natural  place  for  them  to  go.  They  entered  the 
carriage,  drove  up  along  the  river  front  toward 
the  Executive  Mansion  and  then  made  a  detour 
to  reach  the  depot  in  thirty  minutes,  as  in- 
structed by  Colonel  Scott.  I  accompanied  Col- 
onel Scott  to  the  depot,  where  he  first  cleared  the 
track  of  his  line  to  Philadelphia,  forbidding  any- 
thing to  enter  upon  it  until  released,  and  with 
his  own  hands  cut  all  of  the  few  telegraph  wires 
which  then  came  into  Harrisburg.  A  locomotive 
and  a  car  were  in  readiness  at  the  time  ap- 
pointed a  square  below  the  depot,  where  Lincoln 
and  Curtin  arrived  with  Colonel  Lamon,  and 
Lincoln  and  Lamon  entered  the  car  for  their 
journey.  When  I  shook  hands  with  Lincoln  and 
wished  him  God's  protection  on  his  journey, 
he  was  as  cool  and  deliberate  as  ever  in  his  life. ' ' 
This  special  train  came  into  West  Philadel- 
phia about  10  o'clock.  Only  one  person  in  Phila- 
delphia was  advised  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  move- 
ments and  that  was  Superintendent  Kenney,  of 

183 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

the  Philadelphia,  Wilmington  and  Baltimore 
Railroad,  who  met  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Colonel  La- 
mon  in  a  carriage  with  the  intention  of  taking 
them  unobserved  to  the  regular  night  train  for 
Washington  a  few  minutes  before  the  time  of  its 
departure  from  the  depot  of  the  Philadelphia, 
Wilmington  and  Baltimore  Eailroad  at  Broad 
and  Washington  Avenue.  But  when  it  was  seen, 
on  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Lincoln  at  West  Philadel- 
phia, that  there  would  be  nearly  an  hour  before 
the  train  for  the  national  capital  would  leave 
the  downtown  depot,  the  driver  of  the  carriage, 
which  evidently  had  come  across  the  old  Market 
Street  bridge,  and  which  contained  Mr.  Lincoln, 
Colonel  Lamon  and  Pinkerton  on  the  inside, 
Kearney  riding  with  the  driver  on  the  box  seat, 
was  ordered  to  take  a  roundabout  course  with 
the  purpose  of  consuming  time.  Many  highly- 
exaggerated  stories  have  been  circulated  of  the 
events  of  this  night,  which  were  quite  dramatic 
enough  without  embellishment.  The  fact,  as 
stated  by  those  who  knew  most  about  it,  is 
simply  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Colonel  Lamon,  to- 
gether with  Pinkerton,  walked  to  the  sleeper  and 
got  into  it  without  being  known  to  anybody, 
and  the  train,  which  the  conductor  had  been  in- 
structed to  hold  until  he  heard  from  Manager 
Kenney,  pulled  out  of  the  station  only  five  min- 
utes late.  Seven  hours  later,  or  at  6  o'clock 
the  next  morning,  it  was  in  Washington,  and 

184 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

then,  telegraphic  communication  having  been 
restored,  a  despatch  of  four  words  in  cipher  to 
Colonel  Scott  informed  the  rest  of  the  Presi- 
dential party  in  Harrisburg  and  the  railroad 
men  who  were  in  the  secret,  that  all  had  gone 
well.  The  message  as  agreed  upon  was :  ' '  Plums 
delivered  nuts  safely. ' ' 

Miss  Williams  and  her  sister  knew  nothing 
of  the  change  of  plans  until  the  next  morning, 
when  she  says:  "On  Saturday  morning,  the 
twenty-third,  at  the  appointed  hour,  by  the 
scheduled  time,  Mrs.  Lincoln,  her  three  sons, 
Robert  Tadd,  William  Wallace  and  Thomas, 
familiarly  called  Bob,  Willie  and  Tad,  Colonel 
Ellsworth,  Captain  Pope,  Judge  Davis.  Mr. 
Hay,  Mr.  Nicolay,  my  father  and  other  members 
of  the  committee,  left  Harrisburg,  we  accom- 
panying them,  with  Colonel  Sumner  as  major- 
domo.  On  reaching  Baltimore  a  dreadful-look- 
ing mob,  called  'the  Plug  Uglies,'  collected 
about  the  train  peering  into  the  windows  and 
calling  for  *  Lincoln.'  Finding  he  was  not  there, 
a  call  went  forth  for  'Bob,'  who,  with  courage 
commanding  admiration  from  all,  including  the 
mob,  appeared  on  the  platform.  I  recall  that 
the  three  young  men,  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Nicolay 
and  Mr.  Hay,  were  armed  with  revolvers  lest 
need  therefor  should  occur.  We  all  dined  at 
the  Eutaw  House  in  Baltimore,  driving  from  the 
station  in  an  omnibus.  My  father,  on  taking 

185 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

off  his  hat  to  bow,  was  reproved  by  a  member 
of  the  party,  who  said,  'Put  on  your  hat,  Mr. 
Williams ;  you  might  be  taken  for  the  President 
and  shot!'  Arriving  in  Washington  that  eve- 
ning Mr.  Seward  met  the  guests  at  the  station, 
and  I  was  put  by  Colonel  Simmer  into  the  car- 
riage with  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward.  Upon 
protesting  that  this  was  not  my  place,  I  was  told 
'it  was  all  right,'  and  off  we  drove.  Mrs.  Lin- 
coln was  kind  and  agreeable,  Mr.  Seward  grave, 
and  in  my  youth  and  inexperience  I  thought  him 
unresponsive  or  absent-minded.  Later,  realiz- 
ing his  responsibility,  I  more  than  forgave  him. 

"At  Willard's,  parlor  No.  6,  with  a  spacious 
suite  of  apartments,  had  been  hastily  prepared 
for  the  guests  early  the  preceding  day,  and  on 
reaching  the  hotel,  Mrs.  Lincoln  took  me  with 
her  to  the  parlor,  where  we  found  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  an  armchair,  with  the  two  children,  Willie 
and  Tad,  climbing  joyously  over  him — a  beauti- 
ful picture  which  still  lingers  in  my  memory. ' ' 

Miss  Williams  says  that  Mr.  Lincoln  asked 
her  to  sing,  and  upon  enquiring  what  he  would 
like,  he  said  "something  sad."  She  chose  a 
little  song  called  "Alone"  that  she  had  heard 
sung  by  Miss  Ella  Stewart  in  Pittsburgh,  but 
which  she  had  never  seen  in  print,  to  which  she 
had  improvised  an  accompaniment.  * <  The  song 
was  sad,"  she  says,  "but  not  so  sad  as  Mr. 
Lincoln's  face,  which  was  indeed  the  saddest  I 

186 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

have  ever  seen,  though  when  he  smiled  it  was 
one  of  the  most  attractive." 

In  the  evening  there  was  a  reception  at  Wil- 
lard's  when,  at  Mrs.  Lincoln's  request,  Miss 
Williams  and  her  sister  Agnes  assisted  her  in 
receiving,  as  did  Senator  Simon  Cameron's 
daughters,  Jennie  and  Margaret,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Wayne  McVeagh  and  Mrs.  Eichard  J. 
Haldeman.  Miss  Williams  gives  a  description 
of  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  of  the 
ball  in  the  evening,  the  latter  of  especial  value 
because  so  little  was  said  of  the  Inaugural  Ball 
in  the  newspapers  at  the  time,  and  it  has  even 
been  stated  that  there  was  no  ball.  That  there 
was  a  ball  is  proved  by  Miss  Williams '  descrip- 
tion and  by  that  of  Mr.  Seward,  in  his  auto- 
biography, which  agrees  in  the  main  with  Miss 
Williams'  account,  although  lacking  certain 
personal  details. 

In  describing  the  day  that  meant  so  much  to 
the  nation,  Miss  Williams  says:  "Monday, 
March  the  fourth,  was,  as  the  day  grew  older, 
bright  and  sunny.  Before  going  to  the  inau- 
guration my  sister  and  I  waited  at  the  hotel  to 
see  Mr.  Lincoln  start  for  the  Capitol,  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Buchanan.  As  personal  guests 
of  the  President-to-be,  my  father  and  we  girls 
enjoyed  a  close  view  of  the  impressive  cere- 
monies; we  heard  the  famous  inaugural  ad- 
dress and  saw  the  venerable  Chief  Justice  Taney 

187 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

administer  the  oath  of  office  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  as 
he  had  done  to  his  seven  predecessors,  Van 
Buren,  Tyler,  Polk,  Taylor,  Fillmore,  Pierce 
and  Buchanan. 

"In  the  evening  we  attended  the  ball  held  in 
a  temporary  building  erected  for  the  purpose 
on  Judiciary  Square.  It  has  been  said  that  there 
was  no  ball  on  that  evening,  and  many  of  the 
newspapers  of  the  following  days  are  silent  on 
the  subject.  My  formal  invitation,  with  its  long 
list  of  Committees  of  Arrangements,  I  still  have, 
as  well  as  my  Dance  Programme." 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  this  historic 
ball  should  have  been  overlooked  by  most  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  biographers.  Mr.  Seward,  in 
speaking  of  it,  says :  ' '  There  was  no  crowd,  little 
dancing  and,  one  might  say,  little  gayety.  The 
guests  assembled  were,  for  the  most  part,  re- 
fined, well-dressed  people  with  a  more  serious 
air  than  is  usual  on  occasions  of  festivity.  Many 
of  those  who  attended,  like  those  who  had  sub- 
scribed, did  so  because  it  was  an  opportunity  to 
display  fidelity  to  the  Union.  Of  course,  the 
chief  topic  of  the  conversation  was  about 
the  Inaugural. ' ' 

After  the  ball,  Miss  Williams  says  that  her 
father  returned  to  Harrisburg,  and  she  and  her 
sister  remained  in  Washington  under  the  care 
of  Senator  Cameron's  family. 

The  Camerons,  both  father  and  son,  were 

188 


FROM  CARLISLE  TO  HARRISBURG 

probably  more  in  Washington  than  in  their  own 
city  for  some  years,  as  they  at  different  times 
represented  Pennsylvania  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  addition  to  this  they  both 
held  important  Cabinet  positions,  and  yet  the 
name  of  Cameron  belongs  distinctly  to  Harris- 
burg,  in  common  with  such  other  old  names  as 
Haldeman,  Pearson,  Espy,  Findlay,  Shunk,  Al- 
ricks,  Dock,  Forster,  Elder,  Hamilton  and  Sar- 
gent. The  Hon.  Simon  Cameron  was  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's Secretary  of  War,  and  his  son,  James 
Donald  Cameron,  or  "Don  Cameron,"  as  he  was 
so  generally  called  that  his  full  name  was  un- 
known to  many  persons,  held  the  same  position 
in  the  Grant  administration.  Both  the  Cam- 
erons  were  men  of  much  ability  and  born  lead- 
ers, as  appears  from  many  incidents  in  their 
careers.  During  his  residence  in  Washington, 
a  warm  friendship  grew  up  between  ' i  Don  Cam- 
eron" and  the  New  England  historian,  Henry 
Adams.  These  two  men  were  probably  drawn  to 
each  other  on  account  of  their  dissimilarity,  each 
one  in  a  way  representing  a  type  of  his  own 
section.  However  this  may  be,  Mr.  Adams  spent 
much  time  with  the  Cameron  family  in  Wash- 
ington and  on  their  estate  in  Scotland. 

After  getting  off  one  of  his  remarkable  para- 
graphs on  the  Pennsylvania  mind,  for  which 
Mr.  Adams  expressed  some  admiration  on  ac- 
count of  its  practical  ability,  he  then  summed 

189 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

up  the  characteristics  of  Senator  Cameron: 
"  Perhaps  it  [his  mind]  owed  life  to  Scotch 
blood ;  perhaps  to  the  blood  of  Adam  and  Eve, 
the  primitive  strain  of  man ;  perhaps  only  to  the 
blood  of  the  cottager  working  against  the  blood 
of  the  townsman ;  but  whatever  it  was  one  liked 
it  for  its  simplicity. ' ' 2 

Would  Senator  Cameron,  himself,  have  been 
likely  to  count  simplicity  his  leading  character- 
istic? Certainly  higher  encomiums  have  been 
paid  to  the  character  and  ability  of  this  states- 
man, but  none  quite  so  picturesque  as  that  from 
the  pen  of  the  New  England  historian.  To  the 
Charms  of  Mrs.  Cameron,  Mr.  Adams  pays  the 
following  glowing  tribute:  "Senator  Cameron, 
of  Pennsylvania,  had  married  in  1880  a  young 
niece  of  Senator  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  thus 
making  an  alliance  of  dynastic  importance  in 
politics,  and  in  society  a  reign  of  sixteen  years, 
during  which  Mrs.  Cameron  and  Mrs.  Lodge  led 
a  career  without  succession  as  the  dispensers  of 
sunshine  over  Washington." 

2 "  The  Education  of  Henry  Adams,"  p.  332. 


IX 
WESTWARD  HO!  TO  PITTSBURGH 

I  HAD  been  reading  about  the  experiences  of 
Mr.  Prolix  during  his  trip  to  the  West,  and  as  I 
sped  along  in  one  of  the  luxurious  cars  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  I  could  not  help  con- 
trasting the  present  methods  of  travel  with 
those  of  1836.  Mr.  Prolix  had  come  by  a  canal 
boat  from  Columbia,  the  terminus;  of  the  new 
railroad,  and  up  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Susque- 
hanna,  by  the  pretty  town  of  Marietta  to  Dun- 
can's  Island,  only  stopping  a  half  hour  at 
Harrisburg  to  take  on  and  let  off  passengers. 
In  those  days  the  west-bound  travelers  stopped 
over  night  at  Mrs.  Duncan 's  on  the  island  of  the 
same  name.  This  large  island,  sixteen  miles 
west  of  Harrisburg,  at  the  junction  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  and  the  Juniata  Rivers,  was  once  the 
home  of  the  Shawnese  and  the  site  of  a  large 
Indian  village.  Here  the  first  John  Harris  at- 
tempted to  establish  a  trading  station,  but  Chief 
Shikellamy  objected  and  even  appealed  to  the 
Provincial  Council,  upon  which  Harris  with- 
drew, thus  saving  his  scalp  in  all  probability ; 

13  191 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

others  less  wise  lost  theirs  at  the  same  place, 
some  years  later. 

Mr.  Prolix  was  probably  too  busy  getting  the 
cinders  out  of  his  eyes,  of  which  the  travelers  at 
that  time  complained  so  bitterly,  to  give  his 
attention  to  tales  of  Indian  adventure.  He,  how- 
ever, had  recovered  his  good  nature  sufficiently 
to  describe  this  island  hostelry  as  a  "spacious1 
mansion  where  passengers  were  accommodated 
for  the  night  or  with  meals."  The  next  morn- 
ing another  packet  boat  took  the  passengers 
along  the  Juniata,  passing  Millerstown,  Mexico, 
and  Mifflin,  arriving,  before  sunset  of  an  August 
day,  at  Lewistown,  a  distance  of  forty  miles. 
This  town  had  about  sixteen  hundred  inhabi- 
tants, some  of  whom  he  said  made  excellent  beer, 
and  after  testing  its  excellence  the  forty  pas- 
sengers on  the  boat  took  to  their  cabins  for  the 
night,  and  after  passing  Waynesburg  and 
Hamiltonville,  they  were  at  Huntingdon  early 
the  next  morning.  The  journey  to  Huntingdon 
seems  to  have  occupied  the  best  part  of  a  day 
and  night,  progress  being  slow,  at  the  rate  of 
three  and  a  half  miles  an  hour,  which  gave  Mr. 
Prolix  plenty  of  time  to  observe  his  fellow- 
travelers,  who,  as  he  said,  "presented  as  many 
specimens  of  natural  history  as  the  ark  of  Noah. 
The  cabin  in  which  the  passengers  ate  their 
meals  and  spent  their  days,  was  turned  into  a 
dormitory  by  night,  there  being  three  tiers  of 

192 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

berths  in  which  thirty-six  persons  could  be 
accommodated.  Abaft  the  cabin  was  the  kitchen 
in  which  an  emancipated  or  escaped  slave  from 
Maryland  or  Virginia  usually  was  the  cook; 
the  meals  were  pronounced  good,  the  cost  vary- 
ing between  twenty-five  cents  as  the  minimum 
and  thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents  or  three  levies, 
as  the  maximum. ' ' 1  He  who  complains  of  the 
discomforts  of  travel  in  our  well-appointed  cars 
may  find  grounds  for  contentment  with  his  lot 
by  reflecting  upon  the  experiences  of  Mr.  Prolix 
and  his  human  menagerie  all  cooped  up  in  one 
cabin.  Another  drawback  to  this  method  of 
travel  was  that  the  surpassingly  beautiful  scen- 
ery along  the  route  could  not  be  enjoyed  to  any 
extent  by  the  travelers  on  the  canal,  as  their 
only  promenade  was  the  roof  of  the  cabin,  where 
every  step  was  taken  at  the  risk  of  decapita- 
tion by  the  bridges  under  which  the  boat  passed 
at  short  intervals.  The  tourists  were  assured 
that  this  accident  did  not  often  happen,  inas- 
much as  the  man  at  the  helm  was  constantly  on 
the  watch  and  would  give  notice  of  the  danger  by 
crying  out  "bridge!"  Even  in  view  of  this 
warning  there  must  have  been  a  sense  of  in- 
security about  these  promenades  on  deck,  which 
interfered  with  a  serene  enjoyment  of  the  beau- 
ties of  nature. 

1  "Peregrinations    Through    the   Pleasant   Parts   of  Penn- 
sylvania," by  Peregrine  Prolix. 

193 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

The  journey  from  Harrisburg  to  Huntingdon 
is  now  made  in  less  than  three  hours.  Hunt- 
ingdon is  an  interesting  old  town  on  the  banks 
of  the  Kaystown  branch  of  the  Juniata,  and  one 
of  the  old  stopping  places  on  the  way  to  Bedford 
Springs.  The  land  upon  which  the  town  is  situ- 
ated was  bought  by  Dr.  William  Smith,  Provost 
of  the  College  of  Philadelphia  "for  the  consid- 
eration of  three  hundred  pounds  by  deed  dated 
March  25th,  1766,  to  include  Hugh  Crawford's 
improvements."  A  year  later  Doctor  Smith 
had  a  town  laid  out,  which  he  named  Huntingdon, 
in  honor  of  Serena,  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  in 
grateful  remembrance  of  her  liberal  donation  to 
the  College  of  Philadelphia,  now  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  town  for  many  years 
went  by  the  name  of  Standing  Stone  Place,  or 
Crawfords;  but  that  rather  unwieldly  title  was 
later  given  up,  and  it  has  for  years  been  known 
by  the  name  given  it  in  memory  of  the  lovely 
and  pious  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  the  liberal 
patroness  of  George  Whitfield.  This  lady  seems 
to  have  sat  lightly  to  the  things  of  earth,  using 
her  great  wealth  for  religious  and  benevolent 
purposes  during  her  lifetime,  and  leaving  her 
fortune  for  the  support  of  sixty-four  chapels 
which  she  had  built.  This  information  was  given 
to  me  by  a  fellow-traveler  who  evidently  had  a 
warm  admiration  for  Lady  Serena.  She,  my 
compagnon  de  voyage,  being  intelligent,  as  well 

194 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

as  communicative,  enlivened  the  journey  by  re- 
lating to  me  odd  bits  of  local  history.  The  coun- 
try near  Altoona  and  northward  toward  Belle- 
fonte  was,  she  said,  full  of  iron  furnaces  and 
forges  now  abandoned.  One  of  these,  called 
Sabbath  Best,  was  noted  as  being  the  first  fur- 
nace in  this  region  to  stop  work  over  Sunday. 
Mr.  Bell  objected  to  having  his  men  work  on 
Sunday  and  on  trying  the  experiment  of  bank- 
ing his  furnace  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  find- 
ing it  successful,  he  adopted  this  plan  with  the 
good  result  of  giving  the  hands  a  rest  over 
Sunday,  after  which  the  name  of  the  furnace, 
Elizabeth,  was  changed  to  Sabbath  Best, 

Altoona  cannot  by  any  stretch  of  the  imagi- 
nation be  counted  a  thing  of  beauty,  and  yet  the 
Logan  House,  changed  but  little  in  many  years, 
always  has  a  friendly  look  to  me,  recalling  an 
early  trip  across  the  mountains  to  Pittsburgh, 
with  a  stop-over  for  refreshments  at  this  house, 
when  hot  cakes  of  a  superior  quality  were 
eaten,  with  dangerous  rapidity,  between  trains. 
No  griddle  cakes  in  later  years  have  seemed 
quite  as  delectable  as  those  so  hastily  devoured 
at  the  old  Logan  House.  This  house  was  named, 
according  to  Doctor  Shoemaker,  after  John 
Logan,  a  well-known  Indian  of  this  region,  a  son 
of  Chief  Shikellamy,  known  as  a  good  Indian. 
Shikellamy  named  his  three  sons  Logan;  why, 
no  one  knows.  It  may  be  that  he  exchanged 

195 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

names  with  James  Logan  of  Stenton  as  did 
Chief  Wingohocking.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the 
name  of  Logan  is  to  be  found  all  through 
western  Pennsylvania. 

"  James  Logan  is  perpetuated  in  Clinton 
County,"  says  Dr.  H.  W.  Shoemaker,  "by  two 
springs,  a  run  and  a  gap  in  Nittany  Mountain, 
the  village  of  Loganton  and  Logan  Mills,  as  well 
as  Logan  Township,  and  in  Mifflin  County  by  the 
Logan  Spring  near  Eeedsville.  John  Logan,  or 
Captain  Logan,  has  the  Logan  Valley,  also  the 
celebrated  old  Logan  House  in  Altoona." 

The  greatest  claim  to  distinction  possessed 
by  the  Logan  House  is  that  here  was  held  an  im- 
portant conference  of  the  loyal  war  governors, 
in  September,  1862,  at  a  critical  period  of  the 
Civil  War. 

After  a  short  stop  at  Altoona  we  sped  on- 
ward by  the  wonderful  Horseshoe  Curve  at  Kit- 
tanning  Point,  a  marvellous  triumph  of  engi- 
neering skill,  as  my  companion  assured  me  with 
quite  commendable  state  pride,  and  so  by  Cres- 
son  and  Ebensburg,  both  beautiful  mountain 
resorts,  and  very  much  frequented  before  the  tide 
of  summer  travel  set  northward. 

Greensburg,  my  agreeable  and  informing 
companion  pointed  out  to  me,  as  a  town  from 
which  many  important  Pittsburgh  families  had 
come,  a  pretty  town  built  on  many  hills,  with 
a  town  hall  whose  shining  dome  makes  one  think 

196 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

of  the  famous  gilded  dome  of  old  Boston.  Soon 
after  we  steamed  into  the  handsome  station 
of  East  Liberty.  I  was  reminded  once  more 
that  the  greatest  beauty  of  this  city  is  to  be 
found  in  its  many  attractive  suburbs,  where  its 
wise  citizens  have  elected  to  live  away  from  the 
smoke  and  dust  of  this  great  manufacturing 
center.  Spacious  mansions  and  fine  lawns  are 
to  be  found  in  East  Liberty,  Murray  Hill,  Se- 
wickley,  and  other  places  outside  of  Pittsburgh. 
And  this,  my  companion  told  me,  was  the  case  in 
the  early  years  of  the  last  century,  as  the  homes 
of  Judge  Wilkins,  Judge  Finley,  John  Woods, 
the  Wallaces,  the  Watsons,  E  warts,  Dentneys, 
Schenleys,  Fosters,  and  many  more  prominent 
citizens  were  situated  at  Homewood,  Braddock, 
Minersville,  and  Allegheny  town,  as  this  large 
city,  now  a  part  of  Pittsburgh,  was  once  called. 
Judge  William  Wilkins'  house  at  Homewood, 
built  in  1836,  was  considered  the  finest  piece  of 
architecture  west  of  Philadelphia,  and  near  by 
was  the  old  Finley  homestead. 

The  Homewood  Mansion  was  situated  on  an 
estate  of  over  six  hundred  acres,  and  was  sur- 
rounded by  extensive  grounds,  outbuildings  and 
gardens.  The  most  attractive  feature  of  this 
fine  house,  its  beautiful  classic  portico,  faced  on 
Penn  Avenue,  with  steps  leading  into  the  shaded 
lawn.  The  interior  of  Homewood  was  as  hand- 
some as  the  outside,  and  in  the  spacious  rooms 

197 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

many  distinguished  guests  were  entertained,  as 
Judge  Wilkins,  jurist,  statesman,  diplomat  and 
patriot,  was  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  state. 

Another  interesting  historic  house  is  Mor- 
ganza,  as  it  was  here  that  Aaron  Burr's  con- 
spiracy was  first  suspected  by  his  host,  General 
Morgan,  whose  timely  warning  prepared  Presi- 
dent Jefferson  to  meet  the  danger  threatening 
the  Eepublic. 

The  Wallaces  are  said  to  have  owned  the 
oldest  habitation  in  Braddock,  and  here  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette  was  entertained  in  1825, 
after  visiting  Uniontown,  Brownsville,  the  Brad- 
dock  Field,  and  other  places  in  western  Penn- 
sylvania. One  of  the  interesting  houses  which 
belonged  to  very  early  days  in  Allegheny  town 
was  that  of  General  William  Eobinson  on  Fed- 
eral Street,  near  the  bridge.  General  Eobinson 
was  the  first  Mayor  of  Allegheny,  and  so  public- 
spirited  a  citizen  that  he  gave  some  5of  the 
property  adjoining  his  lawn  for  the  use  .of  the 
Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Eailroad. 
According  to  family  chronicles  among  the  Eobin- 
sons,  Miss  Mary  Parker,  a  daughter  of  Major 
Alexander  Parker,  who  lived  near  Carlisle,  made 
the  long  and  difficult  journey  across  the  Alle- 
gheny Mountains  to  visit  some  friends  in  Pitts- 
burgh. There  she  met  General  William  Eobin- 
sani,  who  fell  in  love  with  her,  and  offered  his 
hand  and  heart,  both  of  which  Miss  Parker  ac- 

198 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

cepted,  and  by  so  doing  very  cleverly  avoided  the 
tiresome  return  trip  to  her  distant  home. 

Mr.  Brown  Parker  wrote  from  Pittsburgh 
on  September  7,  1811:  "Arrived  here  this 
day  in  /the  mail  stage  at  one  o'clock  from 
Philadelphia,  Put  up  at  the  Stage  House,  the 
best  Public  House  in  the  Town.  Judge  Tilghman 
at  the  same  House.  .  .  .  Most  of  the  vacant 
ground  in  and  about  the  Town  is  owned  by  a  few 
rich  men,  as  Gen,.  0  'Hara,  Wilkins,  Neville,  etc. ' ' 

The  home  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Page,  which  is 
still  standing  in  Allegheny,  was  next  to  that  of 
Mrs.  Thomas  Barlow  where  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette  was  entertained.  Mr.  Oliver  Ormsby 
Page,  in  writing  of  this  visit,  says : 

"Lafayette  arrived  in  Pittsburgh  on  Mon- 
day, the  thirtieth  of  May,  1825,  and  remained 
here  until  the  following  Wednesday.  The  gen- 
eral and  his  suite  were  lodged  at  Darlington's 
Hotel,  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Wood  Street, 
where  the  First  National  Bank  building  now  is. 
On  the  evening  of  his  arrival  a  grand  ball  was 
given  at  Colonel  Ramsey's  Hotel,  at  the  corner 
of  Third  Avenue  and  Wood  Street,  which  must, 
indeed,  have  been  a  gala  occasion.  From  one 
of  the  old  invitations  we  learn  that  the  man- 
agers of  this  function  were  Henry  Baldwin, 
William  Eichbaum,  Jr.,  Trevanion  B.  Dallas, 
Samuel  Pettigrew,  David  C.  Page,  Alexander 
Johnston,  Jr.,  James  Ross,  Jr.,  Thomas  Clay- 

199 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

land,  John  S.  Kiddle  and  William  D.  Duncan. 
On  Tuesday,  the  second  day  of  his  visit,  Lafay- 
ette was  entertained  at  luncheon  by  Mrs. 
Thomas  Barlow,  at  her  house,  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  what  is  now  Stockton  Avenue  and 
West  Diamond  Street,  in  Allegheny  town, 
which,  with  the  adjoining  mansion  of  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Page  (still  standing,  being  the  brick  house 
where  Mrs.  Joseph  S.  Brown  now  lives)  and 
that  of  the  Reverend  Joseph  Stockton,  at  the 
northeast  corner  of  what  is  now  Arch  Street, 
were,  with  the  frame  meeting-house  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  about  the  only  buildings 
in  the  street  at  that  time.  It  was  extremely 
rural  in  Allegheny  then,  and  all  three  houses 
were  surrounded  by  extensive  grounds;  Mr. 
Page's  having  a  fine  garden  in  the  rear.  Mrs. 
Barlow,  who  had  known  Lafayette  in  France, 
was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Henry  Preble,  who 
settled  in  France  as  an  importing  merchant, 
and  was  a  niece  of  Commodore  Preble.  Her  hus- 
band had  been  secretary  of  legation  under 
his  uncle,  Joel  Barlow,  minister  to  France  dur- 
ing the  administration  of  President  Madison. 
Those  invited  by  Mrs.  Barlow  to  meet  the  dis- 
tinguished guest  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hugh  Davis, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Benjamin  Page,  the  Reverend 
Joseph  Stockton  and  Mrs.  Stockton,  Miss  Han- 
nah Davis  and  Mr.  John  Morrison.  Mr.  Page's 
youngest  daughter,  Martha  Harding  Page 

200- 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

[afterwards  Mrs.  Charles  Scott  Brent  of  Ken- 
tucky] ,  then  nine  years  old,  contributed  the  fol- 
lowing charming  reminiscence  of  the  occasion: 
1  About  a  dozen  of  the  neighboring  children, 
dressed  in  white  with  pink  sashes  and  wreaths 
of  roses  on  our  heads,  received  him  at  the  gate. 
I  remember  a  tall  man  stooping  to  kiss  each  one 
of  us  on  our  foreheads ;  then  he  took  the  Madam 
by  her  hands  and  kissed  her  on  each  cheek. 
I  remember  a  commotion,  many  people;  it  all 
comes  back  to  me  now  like  a  dream;  seventy 
years  is  a  long  time  to  look  back. ' 

"On  this  same  day  Lafayette  was  shown 
through  the  Pittsburgh  Flint  Glass  Works. 
Levasseur,  his  secretary,  in  his  published  ac- 
count of  the  voyage,  has  the  following  to  say  in 
this  connection:  i After  having  devoted  the  day 
of  his  arrival  to  public  ceremonies,  the  general 
wished  to  employ  a  part  of  the  next  day  in 
visiting  some  of  the  ingenious  establishments 
which  constitute  the  glory  and  prosperity  of  that 
manufacturing  city,  which,  for  the  variety  and 
excellence  of  its  products  deserves  to  be  com- 
pared to  our  Saint-Etienne  or  to  Manchester 
in  England.  He  was  struck  by  the  excellence 
and  perfection  of  the  processes  employed  in  the 
various  workshops  which  he  examined ;  but  that 
which  interested  him  above  all  was  the  manufac- 
ture of  glass,  some  patterns  of  which  were  pre- 
sented to  him  that,  for  their  clearness  and  trans- 

201 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

parency,  might  have  been  admired  even  by  the 
side  of  the  glass  of  Baccarat.'  "2 

Two  beautiful  vases,  made  at  the  works  of 
Messrs.  Bakewell,  Page  and  Bakewell,  were  pre- 
sented to  Lafayette.  '  *  On  one  of  them  is  shown 
a  view  of  the  chateau  at  La  Grange  engraved  in 
a  medallion,  and  on  the  other  the  American 
eagle,  likewise  in  a  medallion. "  These  vases, 
which  belonged  later  to  a  granddaughter  of 
Lafayette,  were  loaned  by  her  to  the  French 
Commission  and  exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair 
in  Chicago  in  1893.  A  letter  of  thanks  from  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette  is  still  in  existence,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  copy : 

GENTLEMEN  : 

The  patriotic  gratification  I  have  felt  at  the  sight  of 
your  beautiful  manufacture  is  still  enhanced  by  the  friendly 
reception  I  have  met  from,  you  and  by  the  most  acceptable 
present  you  are  pleased  to  offer  me.  Accept  my  affection- 
ate thanks,  good  wishes  and  regards, 

LAFAYETTE. 

This  letter  of  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  was 
addressed  to  the  firm  of  Bakewell,  Page  and 
Bakewell,  of  which  Mr.  Benjamin  Bakewell  was 
a  member.  Mr.  Bakewell 's  home,  Maple  Grove, 
was  also  in  Allegheny  in  a  part  of  the  town  then 
called  Manchester.  It  was  afterwards  inherited 
by  Mr.  Bake  well's  grandson,  Mr.  Benjamin 
Campbell,  and  it  is  about  this  house  and  garden, 

a  From  magazine  article  written  by  Mr.  Oliver  Ormsby 
Page,  in  1895. 

202 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

which  were  associated  with  her  childhood,  that 
Margaret  Deland,  the  novelist,  wrote  her  beau- 
tiful poem,  "The  Old  Garden." 

Once  more  I  see  thee,  but  forlorn  and  bare, 
And  desolate  of  human  hopes  and  fears. 
Sagging  on  rusty  hinges  hang  thy  doors, 
And  in  thy  empty  rooms  no  sound  is  heard 
Save  only  when  upon  the  echoing  floors 
Last  autumn's  drifted  leaves  are  faintly  stirred. 
Braiding  the  darkness  of  the  wide,  bare  hall, 
The  flickering-  sunshine  softly  comes  and  goes, 
And  'gainst  the  broken  plaster  of  the  wall 
Is  blown  the  shadow  of  a  climbing  rose. 
****** 

Closed  on  three  sides  by  crumbling  walls  of  brick, 
All  spotted  by  slow-creeping  lichen  stains, 
And  nearly  hid  by  ivy,  matted  thick, 
And  dim  with  clinging  mists  of  years  and  rains, 
The  Garden  lies. 


And  there  the  primrose  stands  that  as  the  night 
Begins  to  gather  and  the  dews  to  fall, 
Flings  wide  to  circling  moths  her  twisted  buds, 
That  shine  like  yellow  moons  with  pale,  cold  glow, 
And  all  the  air  her  heavy  fragrance  floods, 
And  gives  largess  to  any  winds  that  blow. 

Here,  in  warm  darkness  of  a  night  in  June, 
While  rhythmic  pulses  of  the  factories  flame 
Lighted  with  sudden  flare  of  red  the  gloom, 
And  deepened  long  black  shadows,  children  came 
To  watch  the  primrose  blow! 

Silent  they  stood, 

Hand  clasped  in  hand,  in  breathless  hush  around, 
And  saw  her  shyly  doff  her  soft  green  hood 
And  blossom — with  a  silken  burst  of  sound ! 
203 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

The  Pages,  Phillipses  and  Ormsbys,  all  re- 
lated by  blood  or  marriage,  made  quite  a  little 
settlement  of  their  own  clan  in  Allegheny  town. 
They  all  lived  upon  what  was  then  called  the 
Second  Bank,  the  descent  of  the  canal  forming 
a  natural  terrace,  one  bank  rising  above  the 
other.  This  street  has  since  been  named  Stock- 
ton Avenue,  in  honor  of  the  Eeverend  Joseph 
Stockton  whose  house  and  church  were  on  the 
Second  Bank. 

The  Ormsbys  were  descended  from  Captain 
John  Ormsby,  of  Connaught,  Ireland,  who  acted 
as  commissary  to  General  Forbes  in  his  expedi- 
tion against  Fort  Duquesne.  Captain  Ormsby 
in  his  diary  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  this  army  and  of  the  blowing  up  of 
the  fort  by  the  French,  and  speaks  of  the  in- 
trepid spirit  of  his  commander  who  was  so  ill 
that  he  had  to  be  carried  on  a  litter.  ' l  You  may 
judge,"  he  said,  "our  situation  when  I  can  as- 
sure you  that  we  had  neither  flour,  flesh  meat 
or  liquor  in  store;  the  only  relief  offered  for 
the  present  was  plenty  of  bear  meat  and  venison 
which  our  hunters  brought  in  and  which  our 
people  devoured  without  bread  or  salt.  There 
were  several  parcels  of  pack-horses  loaded  with 
provisions  coming  up  from  the  inhabited  coun- 
try, but  the  savages  seized  the  most  of  them  and 
murdered  the  drivers.  Our  emaciated  General 
Forbes  was  a  brave  soldier,  but  was  afflicted 
with  a  complication  of  disorders." 

204 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

Captain  Ormsby  also  speaks  of  General 
Stanwix,  whose  work  was  to  rebuild  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  and  of  Colonel  Bouquet's  expedition. 
1  '  I  forgot  to  mention, ' '  he  says, '  '  in  the  course  of 
this  narrative  in  the  year  1763,  that  the  murder- 
ing Indians  who  robbed  me  and  murdered  my 
people  laid  siege  to  the  old  fort  in  Pittsburgh, 
and  as  I  had  a  house  there  and  a  few  goods  in 
remnants,  etc.,  I  chose  to  stay  there  and  assist 
in  defending  it  from  the  savages,  etc.  The  vile 
Indians  continued  to  block  up  our  garrison  for 
near  three  months,  when  Colonel  Bouquet  was 
ordered  to  proceed  to  Pittsburgh  at  the  head  of 
about  1500  men,  part  regulars.  The  savages, 
having  early  intelligence  of  this  march,  watched 
Bouquet's  motions  very  narrowly  until  the  army 
encamped  on  a  dry  ridge  within  about  thirty 
miles  of  Pittsburgh.  Here  the  savages  collected 
all  their  forces  and  attacked  Bouquet  on  all  sides 
in  a  furious  manner,  being  sure  of  their  prey  as 
they  served  Braddock.  The  English  army  was 
in  a  wretched  situation,  as  the  Indians  very  art- 
fully secured  all  the  springs  of  water  in  that 
neighborhood.  Thus  they  were  all  day  without 
a  drop  of  water  but  what  they  sucked  out  of  the 
tracks  of  beasts,  as,  happily,  a  small  rain  fell. 
As  Bouquet  in  the  beginning  ordered  an  encamp- 
ment to  be  made  of  the  bags,  saddles,  etc.,  the 
Indians  still  advanced  that  way  where  the  sick 
and  wounded  lay  in  a  deplorable  condition.  In 

205 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

this  deplorable  situation  of  the  English  army  a 
certain  Captain  Barret,  who  commanded  a  small 
detachment  of  Maryland  Volunteers,  informed 
Bouquet  that  he  and  his  army  would  be  cut  off 
if  they  followed  that  mode  of  fighting.  Bouquet 
then  agreed  to  his  proposal,  which  was  that  a 
quick  march  should  be  ordered  toward  the 
breastwork,  which  would  take  up  the  attention 
of  the  Indians,  while  two  small  squads  should 
run  around  the  savages,  and  upon  beating  a 
flaen,  they  should  rush  up  and  give  the  savages 
a  general  volley  in  their  rear,  which  had  the  de- 
sired effect,  for  the  Indians  were  sure  that  a 
reinforcement  attacked  them.  They  broke  up 
and  ran  and  yelped  up  the  hills  and  the  English 
in  close  pursuit  of  them  as  far  as  prudence 
would  permit.  The  English  then  began  their 
march  and  arrived  safe  at  Pittsburgh  next  day 
without  being  mole>sted  by  the  Copper  Gentry. 
If  Captain  Barret  had  not  happily  suggested  the 
above  manreuvre,  the  savages  intended  to  storm 
the  camp,  and  very  probably  would  have 
massacred  the  chief  part  of  the  army. ' ' 

After  many  vicissitudes  and  adventures  Cap- 
tain Ormsby  finally  settled  in  Pittsburgh  with 
his  family  as  he  says,  in  1764,  "married  a  Miss 
McCallister,  who  made  me  very  happy,  not  only 
in  bringing  me  five  beautiful  children,  but  as- 
sisted me  with  the  great  Industrie  to  satisfie  our 

206 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

creditors  and  to  bring  up  our  children  in  the 
fear  and  admonition  of  God. ' r  3 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  scenes  such  as 
those  described  by  Captain  Ormsby  were  ever 
enacted  in  the  now  peaceful  and  prosperous  city 
of  Pittsburgh.  From  earliest  times  its  wonder- 
ful position,  at  the  confluence  of  two  great  rivers, 
seems  to  have  marked  it  as  the  site  of  a  great 
manufacturing  center,  and  all  travelers  who 
came  here,  our  friend  Prolix  among  them, 
prophesied  for  the  town  a  brilliant  future. 

Colonel  Daniel  Broadhead,  commander  of 
Fort  Pitt,  said  in  February,  1780: 

"I  conceive  it  [Pittsburgh]  will  within  a  few 
years  after  peace  is  established  be  one  of  the 
first  places  of  business  of  any  inland  town  in 
America."  The  old  soldier's  words  came  true 
within  a  decade.  "Agriculture  proving  unprofit- 
able, the  people  of  Pittsburgh  turned  their1  ener- 
gies to  manufacturing.  Then,  was  the  town 
started  on  the  road  to  prosperity  along  which  it 
has  been  traveling  with  such  enormous  strides 
ever  since.  This  great  step  was  taken  largely  by 
reason  of  the  immense  demand  from  Kentucky 
and  the  West  for  articles  of  iron,  copper, 
brass  and  other  things  which  Pittsburgh's 
matchless  coal  deposit  made  it  possible  to  make 
so  advantageously. 

' '  The  first  largemanuf  acturing  establishments 

3  Unpublished  Diary  of  Capt.  John  Ormsby. 
14  207 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

in  the  Pittsburgh  district  were  built  in  1784,  a 
year  which  for  several  reasons  is  an  epochal  one 
in  its  history.  Colonel  Stephen  Bayard  and 
Major  Isaac  Craig,  two  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  village,  erected  a  distillery,  a  saw  mill  and 
a  salt  works,  the  latter  on  the  Big  Beaver  Creek. 
Another  reason  why  this  year  is  notable  is  the 
fact  that  it  marks  the  first  laying  out  of  the 
town  on  a  comprehensive  scale.  Owing  to  the 
enormous  demand  for  lots,  Colonel  Woods,  sur- 
veyor for  the  Penns,  laid  out  the  entire  town 
below  Grant  and  Eleventh  Streets,  retaining  the 
Campbell  plot  of  1764.  The  pantograph  used  by 
him  in  this  important  work  is  now  in  possession 
of  his  granddaughter,  Miss  Mary  C.  Woods,  of 
Hazelwood,  this  city. 

6 '  Some  years  later  GeneralJam.es  0  rHara  es- 
tablished his  glass  works  on  the  South  Side  near 
the  Point  bridge.  This  gallant  old  soldier,  at 
one  time  Quartermaster  General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  was  the  leading  citizen  of  Pitts- 
burgh, and  as  his  ventures  show,  was  certainly 
its  most  enterprising  capitalist  and  merchant. 
*  *  *  General  O'Hara  was  the  grandfather 
of  the  late  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Schenley,  and  the 
founder  of  the  vast  Denny  and  Schenley  estates 
of  this  city.  He  was  one  of  the  most  generous 
and  public-spirited  men  of  his  day. ' ' 4 

Thus  Pittsburgh,  which  was  spoken  of  in 

*"  History  of  Pittsburgh,"  by  Hartley  M.  Phelps. 
208 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

Scott's  Gazette  of  1795  as  "a  post  town  advan- 
tageously situated  for  carrying  on  an  extensive 
inland  trade  with  the  western  country,"  was 
rapidly  developing  into  the  great  commercial 
center  which  it  was  destined  to  become  early  in 
the  next  century. 

Some  hours  were  spent  in  the  beautiful  Car- 
negie Library;  indeed,  one  should  never  go  to 
Pittsburgh  for  a  day  without  .stopping  to  enjoy 
this  wonderful  building  and  its  valuable  collec- 
tions. An  interesting  circumstance  with  regard 
to  the  founding  of  this  library,  and  all  the  others 
that  spread  their  blessings  through  the  land,  is 
their  raison  d'etre. 

It  appears  that  Colonel  James  Anderson 
opened  his  private  library  of  four  hundred  vol- 
umes to  the  boys  of  Allegheny  on  Saturday  even- 
ings, when  young  Carnegie  was  working  twelve 
hours  a  day  for  $1.25  a  week.  He  said  that  he 
looked  forward  all  week  to  the  pleasure  of  get- 
ting a  book  at  Colonel  Anderson 's,  which  he 
could  enjoy  over  Sunday,  and  then  and  there  he 
vowed  that  if  he  ever  became  rich  he  would 
found  libraries  for  the  people.  Later,  when 
Andrew  Carnegie  was  the  clerk  of  Mr.  Thomas 
A.  Scott,  at  $35  a  month,  he  wondered  what  on 
earth  Mr.  Scott  could  do  with  the  magnificent 
sum  of  $125  a  month  that  he  was  receiving  as 
Divisional  Superintendent  of  the  P.  E.  -R. 

Fortunately  Andrew  Carnegie 's  mind  broad- 

209 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

ened  with  his  opportunities,  and  when  great 
wealth  came  to  him  he  was  able  to  realize  the 
dream  of  hi,s  boyhood  ' '  A  new  era  in  the  city 's 
life  was  signalized,"  says  an  old  inhabitant  of 
Pittsburgh,  "-by  the  opening  in  November,  1895, 
of  the  superb  Carnegie  Institute,  the  gift  of 
Andrew  Carnegie  to  the  people  of  Pittsburgh. 
This  supplied  a  long-felt  need  for  the  facilities 
by  which  art,  science,  literature  -and  music  could 
be  studied  and  enjoyed.  Through  the  generous 
gifts  of  Mr.  Carnegie,  Pittsburgh  was  .supplied 
with  a  fine  system  of  free  libraries.  Prior  to 
the  building  of  the  Allegheny  and  Pittsburgh 
Carnegie  Libraries  this  city  had  only  one  insti- 
tution of  any  magnitude  in  this  line,  the  old 
Pittsburgh  Library  in  the  Library  Hall  building 
on  Penn  Avenue. ' ' 

Educational  work  of  vast  importance  is  now 
being  done  by  the  big  library  in  Schenley  Park 
through  the  distribution  of  books  to  clubs  in 
homes  and  elsewhere.  The  magnificent  Phipps 
Conservatory,  also  in  the  park,  was  donated  to 
the  city  about  the  same  time  as  the  Carnegie 
Institute  by  Henry  Phipps,  Esq.,  Mr.  Carnegie's 
former  partner  in  the  steel  business.  Thus, 
through  the  generosity  and  foresight  of  some  of 
its  citizens  who  have  acquired  large  fortunes  in 
Pittsburgh,  this  great  manufacturing  city  has 
also  become  an  educational  center. 

The  citizens  of  Pittsburgh  have  also  been 
210 


WESTWARD  HO  TO  PITTSBURGH 

generous  in  providing  their  municipality  with 
an  admirable  system  of  public  parks,  of  which 
Mr.  Phelps  says :  '  '  Beginning  with  the  parking 
of  Highland  Park  in  August,  1889,  the  magnifi- 
cent Schenley  Park  wa(s  acquired  a  few  days 
later,  a  gift  of  the  late  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Schenley. 
Then  through  the  efforts  of  the  Director  of 
Public  Works,  Edward  M.  Bigelow,  who  was  in- 
strumental in  securing  these  two  parks,  seven 
others  were  laid  out  and  beautified  in  various 
parts  of  the  city.  The  city  now  has  one  thousand 
acres  of  public  pleasure  groaned.  Mr.  Bigelow 
also  procured  for  the  people  Beechwood  and 
Grant  Boulevards,  two  fine  driveways,  affording 
splendid  views  of  the  wonderful  manufactur- 
ing plants  of  the  city  and  the  latter 's  abundance 
of  picturesque  scenery. ' ' 

Highland  Park,  one  of  Pittsburgh's  beautiful 
pleasure  grounds,  is  well  named,  situated  as  it 
is  on  the  heights,  and  from  an  elevated  plateau 
on  one  side  it  commands  a  wonderful  view  of 
the  great  city,  with  its  many  factories,  churches, 
public  buildings  and  handsome  homes.  From 
this  height  one  can  see  the  meeting  of  the  two 
great  rivers,  which  form  a  peninsula  of  the  point 
of  land  on  the  end  of  which  Fort  Pitt  once 
stood,  a  wonderful  panorama  and  one  never  to 
be  forgotten! 


-X 

WASHINGTON,  PENNSYLVANIA,  AND  THE 
BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

A  PLEASANT  party  among  my  friends  was 
made  up  to  motor  from  Pittsburgh  to  Bedford 
Springs,  stopping  over  night  at  Washington. 
This  stop-over  was  a  concession  and  made  in 
order  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  see  this  town 
of  which  I  had  heard  so  much.  It  was  after- 
wards decided  that  two  of  the  party  should  go 
by  trolley,  as  this  route  abounds  in  wild  and 
beautiful  scenery,  and  so  we  found  it.  After 
crossing  the  broad  Allegheny  on  a  fine  bridge, 
we  entered  a  long  tunnel,  evidently  drilled 
through  the  solid  rock,  a  triumph  of  engineering 
skill,  and  then  by  a  bridge  that  seemed  to  swing 
in  mid-air,  from  which  we  looked  down  on  deep 
ravines  and  abrupt  precipices.  We  concluded 
that  this  was  the  nearest  approach  to  an  aerial 
flight  that  could  be  found  on  terra  firma,  so 
high  were  we  above  the  houses  and  villages 
in  the  valleys  below  us.  Later  we  gained  more 
level  ground  and  passed  through  a  number  of 
little  villages,  the  unattractive  hamlets  that  be- 
long to  most  manufacturing  regions,  after  which 
the  tram  carried  us  through  a  rolling,  fertile, 
farming  country.  Near  Washington,  Canons- 

212 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

burg  was  pointed  out  to  us  as  the  site  of  one 
of  the  earliest  western  colleges.  An  English 
school  or  grammar  school,  started  here  in  1791, 
claims  the  distinction  of  being  the  foundation 
of  Jefferson  College  in  Philadelphia.  This 
school  was  chartered  as  an  academy  in  1794,  the 
trustees  meeting  at  the  home  of  Colonel  Can- 
non, and  James  Allison  being  chosen  its 
first  president. 

The  sums  of  money  contributed  towards  the 
support  of  the  academy  at  Canonsburg  were 
pitifully  small,  according  to  modern  ideas,  and 
even  these  pittances  were  not  infrequently  paid 
in  wheat,  rye  and  linen.  The  latter  contribu- 
tion usually  came  from  women  who  prepared  the 
flax  and  spun  the  linen  themselves.  Tea  and 
even  whiskey  were  received  in  payment  of  con- 
tributions, the  amount  all  told  amounting  to 
three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  annum.  This 
small  sum  represented  a  generous  share  of  the 
earnings  of  many  persons,  and  spoke  more  elo- 
quently than  words  of  the  devotion  to  learning 
of  that  simple,  hard-working  community.  In 
later  and  more  prosperous  times,  when  Jeffer- 
son College  succeeded  the  academy,  the  salary 
of  one  of  its  early  presidents  "was  advanced" 
to  the  munificent  sum  of  seven  hundred  dollars. 
Days  of  plain  living  and  high  thinking  were 
these  early  times  in  western  Pennsylvania ! 

The  town  of  Washington  was  long  known  as 

213 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Little  Washington,  a  title  that  its  inhabitants 
repudiate  now  that  its  population  has  reached 
over  twenty-five  thousand.  We  were  told  that 
the  factory  hands  here  were  chiefly  Americans, 
in  which  Washington  differs  from  most  Penn- 
sylvania manufacturing  towns.  An  industrial 
center  of  importance,  a  busy,  prosperous  town, 
with  many  handsome  buildings  and  private  resi- 
dences is  the  Washington  of  to-day ;  but  what  in- 
terested us  more  than  its  present  prosperity  was 
what  is  left  of  the  old  village,  laid  out  in  1781, 
and  claiming  to  be  the  first  town  in  the  United 
States  named  after  George  Washington. 

We  soon  made  our  way  to  Washington  and 
Jefferson  College  and  found  the  old  building  of 
1793,  with  its  lovely  portico  and  vine-covered 
walls,  far  more  interesting  and  picturesque  than 
the  more  spacious  and  well-equipped  modern 
buildings.  Washington  College  is  really  very  old, 
having  been  chartered  in  1787,  several  years 
before  Jefferson  College  in  Canonsburg  was 
established.  Later  the  two  colleges  were  united, 
* '  after  many  conferences  and  much  sharpshoot- 
ing  of  words  on  both  sides,"  as  an  early  chron- 
icler states,  "in  which  no  one  was  killed  and 
few  wounded." 

After  spending  some  time  in  the  fine  col- 
lege library  and  enjoying  the  beautiful  hillside 
campus,  we  strolled  along  College  Street,  with 
its  pretty  houses  all  shaded  by  fine  trees,  and 

214 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

then  turning  into  East  Maiden  Street  we  were 
in  the  old  part  of  the  town.  Passing  by  a  gray 
house  there  suddenly  blazed — I  can  use  no  other 
word — a  hillside  garden  of  such  beauty  and 
brilliancy  as  one  may  see  only  under  a  June 
sun,  with  roses,  poppies,  larkspur,  foxglove, 
ragged  robins,  phlox  and  delphiniums,  all  vying 
with  each  other  to  create  a  high  festival  of  color. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  once  to  be  in  Venice 
in  June,  and  to  be  welcomed  to  Mrs.  Barrett 
Browning's  garden,  the  American  daughter- 
in-law  of  the  poet,  a  garden  of  white  Annuncia- 
tion lilies  and  old-time  sweet  pinks.  For  some 
unaccountable  reason  these  two  gardens  have 
linked  themselves  together  in  my  thoughts,  and 
if  I  were  a  poet  I  should  be  writing  a  poem 
about  them,  both  beautiful,  one  full  of  life,  color 
and  the  rich  creative  spirit  of  June  as  it  basked 
under  its  warm  sunshine;  the  other  fairy-like 
and  lovely  as  I  saw  it  in  the  afternoon  light,  but 
with  no  more  warmth  about  it  than  the  saints 
and  angels  of  Fra  Angelico  's  paintings.  It  is  a 
far  cry  from  that  garden  of  Venice  in  those  days 
of  peace  and  happiness  to  the  distracted  and  im- 
perilled Venice  of  this  year,  1917,  and  a  still 
further  cry  back  to  the  safety  of  our  own  state 
and  the  gay  garden  on  Maiden  Street. 

While  standing  by  the  fence  and  looking 
longingly  at  the  delights  enclosed  by  it,  like  two 
Peris  at  the  gate  of  Paradise,  it  was  sud- 

215 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

denly  opened  to  us,  my  companion  having  been 
recognized  as  a  friend  of  the  owner  of  this 
enchanting  spot.  The  house  adjoining  the  gar- 
den belonged  to  Doctor  Lemoine,  a  learned  man 
and  the  first  advocate  for  cremation  in  America. 
When  we  became  enthusiastic  over  the 
beauty  so  lavishly  spread  before  us,  we  were 
told  that  the  suns  of  a  hundred  summers  and 
the  snows  of  as  many  winters  had  conspired  to 
bring  the  garden  to  its  present  perfection.  As 
we  walked  joyously  among  its  borders,  led  from 
flower  to  flower  by  the  chatelaine,  who  loaded  us 
with  flowers,  and  seeds  from  rare  plants,  she 
told  us  of  Little  Washington  and  the  men  and 
women  who  had  lived  here.  One  tale  of  especial 
interest  to  us  was  that  in  the  Ladies  Seminary, 
a  little  farther  along  on  Maiden  Street,  Miss 
Eebecca  Harding  was  teaching  when  she  wrote 
her  story, '  '  Life  in  the  Iron  Mills. ' '  It  was  read 
and  approved  by  a  young  editor,  Mr.  Clark 
Davis,  who,  after  the  fashion  of  old-time  editors, 
requested  the  privilege  of  corresponding  with 
the  authoress — editors  have  no  time  for  such 
amenities  nowadays ;  they  would  talk  to  the  lady 
over  the  long-distance  'phone  instead,  and  there 
would  be  no  romance.  The  privilege  was 
granted;  Miss  Harding  and  Mr.  Davis  met  later, 
fell  in  love  with  each  other,  were  married,  and 
to  them  were  born  two  sons,  both  writers  by 
inheritance,  the  elder  being  Richard  Harding 

216 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

Davis,  whose  early  stories  we  loved  and  whose 
death  we  mourn  as  a  loss  to  American  literature. 
The  aroma  of  the  sweet  old  story  seemed  to  fit 
in  with  the  fragrance  and  the  charm  of  the  gar- 
den, where  Miss  Bebecca  Harding,  a  friend  of 
the  chatelaine,  often  wandered  from  flower  to 
flower  as  we  wandered  on  that  June  day. 

The  remainder  of  our  party  joined  us  in  an 
auto  the  next  day,  when  we  set  forth  for  Sum- 
mit, passing  through  a  number  of  old  historic 
towns,  by  Library  and  Ginger  Hill  to  Bealls- 
ville,  where  there  is  a  very  interesting  old  tav- 
ern, known  in  stage-coaching  days  as  the  Wil- 
liam Greenfield  Stand,  now  called  the  National 
Hotel,  and  still  offering  hospitality  to  man  and 
beast,  the  latter  being  represented  to-day  by 
the  automobile. 

At  Brownsville,  a  few  miles  farther  east,  was 
one  of  the  earliest  settlements  in  western  Penn- 
sylvania, having  been  the  home  of  Nemacolon, 
an  Indian  chief,  who  guided  Colonel  Cresap 
across  the  Alleghenies  on  his  first  journey  from 
Old  Town,  Maryland,  to  the  Ohio  country,  which 
was  then  considered  farther  west  than  anything 
that  we  know  to-day.  This  path  through  the 
wilderness  was  long  known  as  Nemacolon 's 
Route. 

There  are  now  three  Brownsvilles,  and  from 
a  hilltop  near  by  these  towns,  smoky  and  grimy, 
look  like  a  miniature  Pittsburgh.  Our  way  lay 

217 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

through  West  Brownsville  and  across  the 
Monongahela,  which  is  situated  on  a  tract  of 
land  known  as  Indian  Hill  and  includes  Krepp 
Knob,  now  the  United  States  Triangulation  Sta- 
tion. This  town  was  the  birthplace  of  James  G. 
Elaine,  his  great-grandfather,  Neal  Gillespie, 
a  native  of  Ireland,  having  purchased  the  Indian 
Hill  property.  The  Elaine  homestead  has  been 
torn  down. 

It  is  rather  interesting  to  know  that  the 
earliest  settler  on  Indian  Hill,  William  Peter, 
left  his  home  because  he  failed  to  agree  with  his 
German  neighbor,  Philip  Shute.  The  Govern- 
ment listened  to  a  request  made  by  Peter  and 
granted  him  three  hundred  and  thirty-nine  acres 
of  land,  including  Indian  Hill,  where  Browns- 
ville now  stands.  This  was  in  1769. 

For  many  years  Brownsville  was  the  head  of 
navigation  on  the  Monongahela;  and  during  the 
busy  days  of  the  old  Pike  it  was  an  interior  port 
of  great  importance.  Naturally,  it  became  also 
a  popular  stopping  and  transfer  point  for  trav- 
elers and  there  were  several  famous  hotels ;  the 
principal  one  to-day  is  the  Monongahela,  in  the 
downtown  business  center,  occupying  the  site 
of  an  older  one  of  the  same  name. 

In  passing  through  these  old  towns  of  Penn- 
sylvania, we  had  a  curious  sensation  of  the  near- 
ness of  the  past,  as  Washington  was  in  this  part 
of  Pennsylvania  before  and  after  the  Bevolu- 

218 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

tionary  War.  In  1753  he  was  sent  by  Governor 
Dinwiddie,  of  Virginia,  when  he  was  only 
twenty-one,  to  investigate  the  encroachments  of 
the  French  on  the  Ohio  Eiver.  Washington  has 
left  a  very  interesting  account  of  this  expedition 
in  his  diary  and  letters.  He  spoke  of  being  very 
courteously  received  by  the  French  officers,  who 
invited  him  to  dine.  Afterwards  he  said:  "The 
chief  officers  retired  to  hold  a  council  of  war, 
which  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  taking  the 
dimensions  of  the  fort  and  making  all  the  ob- 
servations I  could." 

On  the  return  trip,  when  "Washington  left 
his  escort  and  horses  with  Van  Braam,  he  set 
forth  with  Christopher  Gist  to  make  the  journey 
home  on  foot,  as  the  horses  had  given  out  from 
overwork  and  he  felt  that  the  information  he 
had  to  give  to  the  Governor  was  too  important 
to  be  delayed  until  fresh  horses  could  be  found. 
It  was  upon  this  journey  that  in  crossing  the 
Allegheny  on  an  improvised  raft  Washington 
and  Gist  were  thrown  into  the  icy  river.  They 
saved  themselves  by  catching  at  the  logs  of  the 
raft  and  finally  reached  an  island  where  they 
passed  the  night,  shivering  in  their  frozen  gar- 
ments. The  next  day  the  river  was  frozen  hard 
enough  to  enable  Washington  and  his  companion 
to  cross  to  the  left  bank  on  foot,  and  so  they 
reached  Frazer's  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle  Creek 
on  the  Monongahela.  While  waiting  for  horses, 

219 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

which  it  required  some  time  to  find,  Washington 
wrote:  "I  went  up  about  three  miles  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Youghiogheny  to  visit  Queen  Ali- 
quippa,  who  expressed  great  concern  that  we 
passed  her  in  going  to  the  fort.  I  made  her  a 
present  of  a  match  coat  and  a  bottle  of  rum, 
which  latter  was  thought  much  the  better  pres- 
ent of  the  two." 

Many  fanciful  stories  have  been  told  about 
this  Indian  Queen,  probably  without  any  founda- 
tion in  fact.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  she  was 
a  lady  who  exacted  tribute  from  passersby,  and 
young  Washington  was  fortunate  in  knowing 
something  of  her  tastes. 

Most  of  our  tour  was  over  the  National  Road, 
and  we  were  suddenly  reminded  that  the  build- 
ing of  a  great  highway  to  cross  the  Alleghenies 
and  connect  the  then  remote  settlements  in  the 
Ohio  Valley  with  the  centers  of  industry  and 
commerce  in  the  East  was  a  favorite  plan  of 
General  Washington's.  From  his  diary  we 
learn  that  in  the  autumn  of  1784,  between  the 
closing  of  his  military  duties  and  his  call  to 
the  Presidency,  he  made  a  tour  of  exploration 
and  inspection  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Ohio. 
From  Cumberland  to  Laurel  Hill  he  passed 
through  a  region  which  had  been  made  familiar 
to  him  thirty  years  before  by  marching  through 
it  on  his  own  campaign  of  1753  and  '54  and 
with  General  Braddock  in  1755.  Arriving  at  the 

220 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

Youghiogheny,  he  embarked  in  a  canoe  with 
an  Indian  pilot,  and  passed  down  that  river  to 
Ohio  Pile  Falls,  where  he  landed,  and  thence 
rode  across  the  country  to  the  Monongahela  and 
up  the  valley  of  that  river. 

On  one  occasion,  when  seated  in  a  hunter's 
cabin  near  the  Virginia,  line,  examining  maps  and 
asking  questions  of  a  number  of  frontiersmen 
who  stood  around  him  relative  to  the  passes  of 
the  mountains  and  the  adaptability  of  the 
country  for  the  construction  of  the  road  which 
he  had  in  mind,  a  young  man  of  foreign  appear- 
ance who  was  among  the  bystanders  volunteered 
an  opinion  indicating  a  certain  route  which  he 
believed  to  be  the  best  for  the  purpose.  At  this 
interruption  Washington  regarded  the  speaker 
with  surprise  and  with  something  of  the  im- 
perious look  of  the  Commander-in- Chief,  but 
made  no  reply  and  continued  his  examination. 
Upon  its  completion,  the  General  saw  that  the 
opinion  expressed  by  the  unknown  speaker  was 
undoubtedly  well  founded  and,  turning  to  him, 
said  in  a  polite  but  decided  way,  "  You  are  right, 
young  man ;  the  route  you  have  indicated  is  the 
correct  one."  The  young  stranger  proved  to 
be  Albert  Gallatin,  afterwards  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States  and  one  of  the 
principal  promoters  of  the  construction  of  the 
great  National  Eoad  to  the  Ohio.  It  was  here 
that  Washington  first  formed  the  acquaintance 

221 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  Gallatin,  a  friendship  that  continued  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  Chief.1 

Albert  Gallatin  owned  a  country  home  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Monongahela  about  twelve 
miles  south  of  Uniontown,  which  accounts  for 
his  sudden  appearance  among  the  frontiersmen 
whom  Washington  was  consulting. 

From  the  upper  Monongahela  Washington 
passed  through  the  county  of  Washington  to  the 
Ohio  River.  Four  years  later  he  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  during  the 
eight  years  of  his  administration  he  continued 
a  steadfast  and  earnest  advocate  of  the  project 
of  a  great  highway  to  be  constructed  by  the 
Government  across  the  Alleghenies  for  the  pur- 
pose of  binding  more  firmly  together  the  eastern 
and  western  sections  of  the  United  States. 

The  beginning  of  many  of  the  old  western 
Pennsylvania  towns  was  the  tavern  or  inn,  the 
wayside  inn  being  greatly  in  request  in  stage- 
coaching  days,  as  it  is  destined  to  be  in  these 
touring  times.  Then  it  was  not  considered  be- 
neath the  dignity  of  gentle  folk  to  keep  these 
hostelries,  consequently  we  find  many  good  old 
Pennsylvania  names  associated  with  its  taverns. 

We  passed  a  number  of  old  taverns  between 
Brownsville  and  Uniontown,  Brubaker's,  The 
Eed  Tavern  and  the  famous  Searight  House,  a 
large  stone  building  on  the  north  side  of  the  road 

^'History  of  Washington  County." 
222 


FRIENDSHIP    HILL,    FORMER    HOME    OF    HON.    ALBERT    GALLATIN,    NEAR 
UNIONTOWN 


BEN  LOMOND,  BUILT  1785  BY  HENRY  BEESON,  FOUNDER  OF  UNIONTOWN 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

about  halfway  between  Uniontown  and  Browns- 
ville; it  was  built  by  Josiah  Frost  about  the 
time  the  National  Road  was  constructed  and 
acquired  by  William  Searight  in  1821.  "Lo- 
cated at  an  important  cross-road,  this  was  in  the 
olden  times  one  of  the  noted  taverns  along  the 
road — not  only  a  popular  place  for  social  ac- 
tivities, but  also  a  sort  of  political  center  for 
Uniontown,  Conn  ells  ville  and  Brownsville.  The 
original  William  Searight  was  road  commis- 
sioner on  the  old  Pike  for  many  years;  at  his 
death  his  son,  Ewing  Searight,  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  property  and  rented  it  to  various 
persons  who  conducted  a  tavern,  and  ran  it  two 
years  himself.  His  son  William  used  it  as  a 
private  residence  until  his  death;  it  is  now 
owned  by  Searight  McCormick,  a  grandson  of 
Ewing  Searight,  and  occupied  as  a  pri- 
vate residence." 

A  number  of  handsome  residences  and  fine 
grounds  skirt  the  National  Road,  among  them 
the  Ben  Lomond,  built  by  Jacob  Beeson,  one  of 
the  founders  of  Uniontown,  in  1785,  and 
later  the  residence  of  Daniel  Moore  and  L. 
W.  Stockton. 

Beyond  the  railroad,  the  trolley  turns  to  the 
left,  while  the  Pike  keeps  straight  on,  past  a 
number  of  fine  residences.  To  the  right  is  the 
Uniontown  Hospital,  and  just  beyond  we  passed 
Oak  Grove  Cemetery,  where  one  can  see  from 

15  223 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

the  street  the  grave  of  Thomas  B.  Searight, 
author  of  "The  Old  Pike." 

"Mr.  Searight  spent  practically  his  whole 
life  along  the  National  Boad,  and  wrote  largely 
from  the  personal,  human  side,  as  no  historian 
of  the  present  day  could  hope  to  do.  No  other 
work  on  the  subject  gives  so  great  an  insight  into 
the  Old  Pike  days ;  the  book  is  now  practically 
out  of  print,  though  available  in  most  large 
libraries.  At  his  request,  Mr.  Searight  was  bur- 
ied as  close  as  possible  to  the  old  road  he  had 
studied  so  long  and  known  so  well. ' ' 

"Union town,  the  first  place  of  importance 
west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  on  this  route, 
is  a  small  but  very  enterprising  and  prosperous 
city,  depending  now,  as  for  nearly  a  hundred 
years  past,  largely  upon  the  National  Pike  for 
direct  connections  East  and  West. ' ' 2 

From  plans  still  preserved  in  Uniontown  it 
appears  that  Washington  not  only  owned  prop- 
erty about  fifteen  miles  north  of  Uniontown,  but 
drew  a  plan  for  a  town  very  much  like  that  used 
later  for  the  capital  on  the  Potomac.  On  this 
chart  is  a  central  * '  diamond, ' '  and  streets  radi- 
ating from  it  very  much  as  they  do  in  the  beau- 
tiful city  of  Washington.  Nothing  seems  to 
be  left  of  the  projected  town,  which  was  named 
Perry  op  olis,  except  an  old  mill  which  Washing- 
ton had  built  as  an  important  part  of  his  town. 

8 "  The  National  Road,"  by  Robert  Bruce. 
224 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

We  afterwards  passed  through  Uniontown 
on  our  way  to  Summit,  where  we  spent  the  night 
at  a  hotel  situated  on  the  tiptop  of  a  mountain. 
In  the  woods,  a  short  distance  from  the  Summit 
Hotel,  are  the  Washington  Springs,  the  place 
of  General  Braddock's  tenth  encampment, 
according  to  Mr.  Lacock:  "This  Indian  camp 
was  in  a  strong  position,  being  upon  a  high  rock 
with  the  very  narrow  and  steep  ascent  to  the 
top.  It  had  a  spring  in  the  middle  and  stood  at 
the  termination  of  the  Indian  path  to  the  Monori- 
gahela,  at  the  confluence  of  Red  Stone  Greek. ' ' 3 

It  was  near  this  spring  that  Washington  sur- 
prised a  party  of  French  and  Indians  under 
Jumonville,  killing  the  latter  and  several  of  his 
men  and  carrying  the  others  off  captive.  This 
engagement,  preceding  as  it  did  the  surrender  at 
Fort  Necessity  and  Braddock's  defeat,  as 
Francis  Parkman  says,  "began  the  war  that 
set  the  world  on  fire ! ' ' 

The  next  day  we  came  again  upon  traces  of 
Washington,  as  Fort  Necessity,  where  he  sur- 
rendered to  a  superior  force  of  French  and 
English,  can  be  seen  from  the  National  Road. 
This  was  July  4,  1754.  A  tablet  erected  by  the 
Centennial  Celebration  Committee  in  1904 
marks  the  spot  where  the  old  stockade  stood. 
This  place  was  long  known  as  Great  Meadows. 
And  over  a  road  running  a  short  distance  south 

8  Robert  Orme's  Journal. 

225 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  the  National  Koad,  General  Braddock  passed 
in  June,  1755,  with  two  picked  British  regiments, 
young  Washington  being  on  his  staff.  Before 
reaching  Great  Meadows,  Washington  was 
taken  ill  with  a  fever  and  was  ordered  by  his 
general  to  stop  for  rest  at  the  ford  of  the  Yough- 
iogheny.  This  name,  difficult  to  unaccustomed 
tongues,  is  Indian,  of  course,  and  was  probably 
the  Youghhannie,  meaning  Four  Streams,  refer- 
ring to  the  Monongahela  and  its  three  branches 
at  Turkey  Foot.  The  Youghiogheny  is  now 
spanned  by  a  substantial  three-arched  bridge  on 
which  is  a  bronze  tablet  recording  the  fact  that 
Washington  had  crossed  this  stream  three  times. 
This  place  which  he  always  spoke  of  in  his  let- 
ters as  Big  Crossings  is  now  Somerfield,  and 
the  roadside  inn,  now  called  the  Youghiogheny 
House,  was  formerly  the  Endsley  House. 
Young  Colonel  Washington  remained  here  at 
the  ford  much  against  his  will,  having  extracted 
a  promise  from  his  general  that  he  should  be 
allowed  to  join  the  army  before  it  reached  Fort 
Duquesne,  for  as  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  Rob- 
ert Orme,  he  would  not  miss  the  impending  bat- 
tle for  five  hundred  pounds.  His  fever  hav- 
ing somewhat  abated,  through  the  efficacy  of 
Dr.  James '  Pills,  as  he  wrote  to  his  mother,  or 
because  of  his  iron  constitution,  but  being  still 
too  weak  to  sit  on  his  horse  he  was  conveyed  to 
the  front  in  a  wagon  and  in  the  nick  of  time, 

226 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

as  the  next  day,  July  9th,  the  troops  forded  the 
Monongahela  and  attacked  the  fort. 

Doctor  Franklin  and  Washington,  both  of 
whom  knew  something  of  the  methods  of  In- 
dians, had  warned  General  Braddock  of  the 
danger  of  a  surprise,  the  latter  receiving  a 
severe  rebuke  as  an  answer  to  his  warning. 
When  the  surprise  came  from  French  and  In- 
dians ambushed,  the  young  Virginian  again 
begged  the  General  to  throw  his  men  into  the 
woods  but  all  in  vain.  Fight  in  platoons  they 
must  or  not  at  all,  says  Lodge.  The  result  was 
they  did  not  fight  at  all.  Braddock  was  mor- 
tally wounded  and  his  troops  broke  into  a  wild 
rout  and  fled.  Even  now  we  cannot  think  of  this 
battle  without  a  quickening  of  the  pulses.  The 
experienced  General,  carrying  on  the  attack, 
according  to  British  tactics,  successful  in  other 
wars,  but  not  adapted  to  the  situation,  while  the 
young  soldier,  his  eyes  shining  with  the  fierce 
light  of  battle,  led  on  his  own  Virginia  troops 
in  a  gallant  but  futile  effort  to  stay  the  tide  of 
disaster.  It  was  in  this  battle  that  Washington 
had  two  horses  shot  under  him  and  four  bullets 
through  his  coat. 

This  oft-repeated  tale  must  be  true,  as  it 
comes  from  a  letter  written  by  Washington  to 
his  mother  soon  after  the  battle,  and  we  doubt 
his  ever  telling  that  stern  Virginia  matron  any- 
thing but  the  exact  truth,  as  she,  herself,  at  the 

227 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

height  of  his  fame,  when  encomiums  were  heaped 
upon  him  always  met  them  by  saying,  *  *  George 
was  a  good  boy." 

Colonel  Washington 's  death  was  reported  in 
the  Colonies,  together  with  his  dying  speech, 
which,  as  Washington  wrote  to  his  brother  with 
a  sort  of  dry  humor  that  belonged  to  him,  he  had 
not  yet  composed. 

When  the  troops  broke  it  was  Washington 
who  succeeded  in  gathering  together  the  scat- 
tered remnants,  and  it  was  he  who  carried  off 
the  wounded  general  in  a  litter.  Braddock  died 
on  the  journey,  and  was  buried  in  the  middle 
of  the  road  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  dese- 
crating his  grave.4  The  solemn  words  of  the 
burial  service  of  the  Church  of  England  were 
read  over  the  grave  of  his  fallen  commander 
by  young  Washington  at  daybreak,  July  14,1755. 

The  remains  of  the  unfortunate  British  gen- 
eral now  rest  under  a  handsome  monument  of 
Vermont  granite  on  a  hilltop  in  Braddock  Park, 
a  few  rods  from  the  spot  where  he  was  first 
buried.  This  monument  was  erected  by  the  Gen- 
eral Braddock  Park  Memorial  Association  and 
to  this  hilltop  the  body  was  removed  in  1913,  but 
to  our  minds  the  lovely  glen  near  by,  overshad- 
owed by  forest  trees,  where  birds  sing  in  the 

*  According  to  Mr.  Lacock,  General  Braddock  died  at 
Orchard  Camp  on  the  we8t  side  of  Great  Meadows,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  place  where  he  was  buried.  "  The 
Braddock  Road,"  by  John  K.  Lacock. 

228 


WASHINGTON  AND  THE  BRADDOCK  TRAIL 

branches,  is  a  more  fitting  spot  for  a  soldier 's 
last  resting-place  than  the  bare  hilltop. 

At  the  time  of  the  unveiling  of  the  Braddock 
monument,  the  English  Government  sent  over 
an  especial  delegation  of  British  soldiers  to  take 
part  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  occasion,  the  first 
to  come  to  our  shores  since  the  War  of  1812. 

On  our  way  to  Bedford,  we  crossed  the  fine 
three-arched  bridge  over  the  Youghiogheny  and 
so  were  near  another  of  the  Braddock  encamp- 
ments on  the  east  side  of  the  river. 


XI 

FORT  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG  AND 
JENNY  LIND 

FORT  BEDFORD,  on  the  Raystown  branch  of 
the  Juniata,  is  one  of  the  early  frontier  forts  of 
western  Pennsylvania,  holding  as  it  did  an  im- 
portant strategic  position  in  the  French  and 
Indian  wars.  Before  the  fort  was  erected,  a 
small  settlement  was  made  here  in  1750  by  Rob- 
ert Ray,  who  established  a  trading  post  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Juniata  and  built  one  or  more 
log  cabins  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  his 
goods  with  the  Indians  for  their  furs  and  pelts. 
Very  little  is  known  of  Ray,  except  that  he  was 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  but,  says  the  Hon.  Wil- 
liam P.  Schell,  "the  fact  that  he  first  settled  at 
Raystown  has  passed  his  name  down  a  century 
and  a  half,  and  probably  it  may  continue  to  go 
down  through  future  centuries,  well  marked  by 
four  natural  monuments — Raystown,  Raystown 
Branch  of  the  Juniata  River,  Ray's  Hill  and 
Ray's  Cove,  over  all  of  which  passed  the  great 
Indian  Trail  from  Harris7  Ferry,  through  Rays- 
town  to  the  Ohio  River. 

Robert  Ray  did  not  live  long  after  estab- 
lishing his  trading  post  and  was  evidently  suc- 
ceeded by  Garrett  Pendergrass,  as  "Ray's 

230 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

Post"  was  called  "Pendergrass  Place"  in  1754. 
An  interesting  old  document  in  the  Court  House 
at  Bedford  is  the  original  treaty  between  the 
Six  Nations  and  Garrett  Pendergrass. 

In  1755  the  Governor  of  the  Province  agreed 
to  open  a  wagon  road  from  Fort  Louden  in 
Cumberland  County  to  the  forks  of  the  Youghi- 
ogheny  River.  For  this  purpose  three  hundred 
men  were  sent  up,  but  for  some  cause  or  other 
the  project  was  abandoned  for  the  time.  The 
road  was  completed  in  1758,  when  the  allied 
forces  of  Virginia,  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
marched  against  Fort  Duquesne  under  General 
Forbes.  The  same  year  the  fort  was  built  at 
Raystown  and  called  Fort  Bedford  in  honor  of 
the  Duke  of  Bedford.  As  early  as  1757,  Gov- 
ernor Denny  ordered  Colonel  John  Armstrong, 
of  Carlisle,  then  in  command  of  a  battalion  of 
eight  companies  of  Pennsylvania  troops  doing 
duty  on  the  west  side  of  the  Susquehanna  River, 
to  encamp  with  a  detachment  of  three  hundred 
men  near  Raystown.  "A  well-chosen  situa- 
tion, ' '  said  the  Governor  in  a  letter  to  the  Pro- 
prietaries, "on  this  side  of  the  Allegheny  Hills, 
between  two  Indian  roads." 

On  the  16th  of  August,  1758,  Major  Shippen 
wrote  from  the  camp  at  Raystown :  "We  have  a 
good  stockade  fort  here,  with  several  conveni- 
ent and  large  storehouses.  Our  camps  are  all 
secured  with  good  breastworks  and  a  small  ditch 

231 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

on  the  outside,  and  everything  goes  on  well.  Col- 
onel Burd  desires  his  compliments." 

"On  their  way  to  Fort  Duquesne,  Colonels 
Bouquet  and  Washington  first  marched  to  Bed- 
ford with  the  advance  and  were  followed  by 
General  Forbes,  who  had  been  detained  by  ill- 
ness at  Carlisle.  The  successful  troops  that  put 
to  rout  the  French  without  striking  a  blow, 
amounting  to  seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  men  were  reviewed  where  Bedford 
now  stands."1 

According  to  local  tradition,  the  fort  was  at 
the  corner  of  Pitt  and  Juliana  Streets,  where 
a  jewelry  shop  now  stands,  the  stockades  prob- 
ably extending  to  the  banks  of  the  Juniata.  It 
seems  strange  to  read  of  the  mustering  and 
marching  of  armies  in  and  through  this  peaceful 
old  town ;  but  Bedford  had  a  stirring  and  event- 
ful history  in  the  perilous  time  of  the  early 
settlement,  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars  and 
in  the  Eevolution.  In  between  these  two  wars 
the  town  was  laid  out  by  John  Lukens,  surveyor- 
general,  and  on  an  original  Penn  manor.  The 
name  was  changed  from  Eaystown  to  Bedford, 
and  serving  to  recall  associations  with  the  old 
manor  we  find  the  streets  still  having  names  of 
several  members  of  the  Penn  family,  as  John, 
Eichard,  Thomas  and  Juliana,  the  latter  being 
in  honor  of  the  Lady  Juliana,  wife  of  Thomas 

1 "  History  of  the  Juniata  Valley,"  by  M.  J.  Jones. 
232 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

Penn,  the  same  whose  name  was  given  to  the 
library  in  Lancaster.  The  main  street  of  the 
town  was  named  Pitt  after  the  great  Eng- 
lish statesman. 

The  main  streets  of  country  towns,  with  their 
shops,  taverns,  dust  and  traffic,  all  seem  very 
much  alike ;  but  in  Pitt  Street,  which  is  now  the 
Lincoln  Highway,  there  are  some  interesting 
old  houses ;  among  these  is  a  stone  house  which 
claims  the  distinction  of  having  entertained 
General  Washington  in  1794,  when  he  was  in 
southern  and  western  Pennsylvania,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  very  formidable  uprising  in  and 
around  Pittsburgh,  called  the  Whiskey  Insur- 
rection, which  was  in  reality  an  organized  move- 
ment to  overturn  the  established  government. 
The  General  had  been  in  Harrisburg,  Carlisle, 
Chambersburg  and  other  towns ;  but  only  as  far 
west  as  Bedford.  At  -Cumberland  he  planned 
the  western  campaign,  finding  that  over  five 
thousand  troops  could  be  mustered  for  the  ex- 
pedition. This  army,  which  does  not  seem  large 
to  us  who  have  heard  of  troops  being  counted 
by  millions,  so  overawed  the  insurgents  that 
they  were  ready  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and 
order  was  soon  established.  "Thus,"  said 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  "without  shedding  a 
drop  of  blood,  did  the  prudent  vigor  of  the  ex- 
ecutive terminate  an  insurrection  which  at  one 
time  threatened  to  shake  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  its  foundation." 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

General  Washington  wrote  in  his  diary: 
"Having  requested  that  everything  might  be 
speedily  arranged  for  a  forward  movement,  and 
a  light  corps  to  be  organized  for  the  advance 
under  the  command  of  Major  General  Morgan, 
I  resolved  to  proceed  to  Bedford  next  morning. ' ' 

The  cavalry  under  Washington's  nephew, 
Major  George  Lewis,  escorted  him  to  Bedford, 
where  he  was  entertained  at  the  home  of  Mr. 
David  Espy,  Prothonotary  of  the  County  of 
Bedford,  "to  which  house, "  he  said,  "I  was 
carried  and  lodged  very  comfortably." 

In  another  house  on  Pitt  Street,  owned  by 
Mr.  Espy,  and  now  the  home  of  his  great-grand- 
daughter, Mrs.  Hickok,  we  were  shown  the  table 
on  which  the  General  wrote  and  a  handsome  old 
chair  in  which  he  sat.  This  fine  double  house, 
shaded  by  great  maple  trees,  Mr.  Espy  built  for 
his  daughter  Mary,  who  married  John  Ander- 
son. Here  the  young  couple  made  their  home, 
and  in  this  house  Mr.  Anderson  also  conducted 
the  affairs  of  the  Bank  of  Bedford,  which  ac- 
counts for  the  two  doors  opening  on  the  porch ; 
one  of  these  strong  doors,  with  great  heavy 
bars,  belonged  to  the  bank,  and  this  part  of  the 
mansion  was  called  the  *  '  Bank  House. ' '  At  the 
back  of  Mrs.  Hickok 's  home  is  a  beautiful  gar- 
den that  slopes  down  to  the  Juniata,  and, 
as  we  saw  it,  it  was  gay  and  bright  with 
summer  flowers. 

234 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

Another  citizen  of  Bedford  who  entertained 
General  Washington  in  1794  was  Mr.  Hartley 
at  his  old  homestead  near  Mt.  Dallas.  This, 
one  of  the  cherished  traditions  of  the  Hartley 
family,  is  referred  to  in  a  letter  which  Judge 
Jasper  Yeates  wrote  to  his  wife  from  Bedford 
several  years  later. 

My  dearest  Wife: 

We  got  here  this  morning  after  breakfast  but  experi- 
enced dreadful  Roads.  We  were  much  fatigued  yesterday, 
but  forgot  all  our  cares  when  we  came  to  Hartleys,  6  miles 
from  hence.  A  fine  woman,  handsomely  but  plainly  dressed, 
welcomed  us  to  his  house.  Good  Trout,  Asparagus,  Olives 
and  Apples  Garnished  our  Table,  and  I  had  as  good  a  Bed 
as  I  ever  lay  in,  to  console  me  after  my  Ride. 

Mr.  Washington  once  told  me,  on  a  charge  which  I 
once  made  against  the  President  at  his  own  Table,  that  the 
admiration  he  warmly  expressed  for  Mrs.  Hartley,  was  a 
Proof  of  his  Omage  to  the  worthy  part  of  the  Sex,  and 
highly  respectful  to  his  Wife.  In  the  same  Light  I  beg 
you  will  consider  my  partiality  to  the  elegant  accomplish- 
ments of  Mrs.  Hartley. 

Interesting  as  is  the  old  town,  it  is  not  for  its 
charms  that  so  many  visitors  come  to  Bedford, 
but  for  the  benefit  of  the  wonderful  mineral 
waters  that  have  flowed  on  here  for  how  many 
thousand  years  no  man  can  tell.  It  was  long 
years  ago,  when  the  Indians  still  roamed  over 
this  region,  that  the  curative  properties  of  the 
waters  were  discovered.  With  the  intuition  that 
belongs  to  those  who  live  in  the  wilderness  and 
in  desert  places  far  from  the  haunts  of  men,  the 
red  man  noticed  that  when  they  bathed  their 

235 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

wounds  in  the  waters  of  the  spring  they  healed 
quickly.  Looking  upon  them  naturally  as  a 
manifestation  of  the  goodness  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  in  which  they  were  not  far  wrong,  the 
spring  became  famous  among  the  neighboring 
tribes.  Following  upon  the  footsteps  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  forest,  their  white  brothers  came  to 
the  springs  for  the  healing  of  the  waters,  how 
early  the  hotel  registers  do  not  reveal. 

Although  there  is  now  a  comfortable  hotel, 
Fort  Bedford,  in  the  town  and  conveniently  situ- 
ated on  the  Lincoln  Highway,  we  went  directly 
to  the  Spring  House,  passing  on  our  way  the 
Arandale,  a  popular  hostelry,  well  situated  and 
with  a  beautiful  well-shaded  lawn.  Very  little 
is  left  of  the  old  house  at  the  springs  except  the 
central  brick  building  in  which  many  interesting 
and  distinguished  people  have  been  entertained. 
The  hillside  cottages  have  been  rebuilt  after 
the  model  of  the  earlier  cottages  and  with  their 
porches  and  balconies  remind  one  of  summer 
hotels  in  the  South. 

In  the  years  before  the  Civil  War,  Bedford 
was  a  favorite  resort  of  politicians,  and  in  the 
registers  we  find  the  names  of  Judge  Burnside, 
of  Belief onte;  Samuel  Black,  of  Pittsburgh; 
James  Buchanan,  Judge  Strong,  Jeremiah  S. 
Black,  the  Camerons,  father  and  son,  Eeverdy 
Johnson  and  many  others  who  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  history  of  the  nation. 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

At  that  earlier  time  there  was  a  long,  low 
building  here,  separated  from  the  main  house 
and  known  as  Crockford,  the  bachelors'  quar- 
ters, named  after  the  English  gambling  house. 
If  the  walls  of  old  Crockford  could  speak,  they 
would  have  many  tales  to  tell  of  important 
caucuses  held  in  this  building  in  which  the  voices 
of  benedicts  as  well  as  bachelors  were  heard  in 
earnest  and  excited  debate.  Wit  flashed  here, 
talk  flowed  on  freely  and  perhaps  something 
else  which  flows  no  more.  If  the  ghosts  of  the 
former  habitues  of  the  Springs  could  return  to 
this  old  haunt,  they  would  fee!  themselves  in  a 
strange  place;  old  Crockford  has  disappeared, 
the  ramshackle  bath  houses  with  their  tin  tubs 
no  longer  disfigure  the  lawn,  and  in  their  places 
are  well-equipped  bathrooms  and  a  fine  large 
swimming  pool. 

What  has  not  changed,  however,  is  the  beau- 
tiful mountain  up  whose  steep  sides  the  devoted 
disciples  of  Esculapius  climb  after  the  morning 
draft  of  water,  some  of  the  faithful  making  the 
ascent  again  at  noon. 

The  earliest  hotel  register  dates  back  only  to 
1823,  but  guests  had  been  coming  to  what  was 
then  often  called  Anderson's  Spring  long  be- 
fore that  date.  This  property  belonged  for 
many  years  to  the  well-known  Anderson  family, 
some  members  of  which  are  still  living  in  Bed- 
ford, and  tickets  for  the  use  of  the  water  were 

237 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

evidently  issued,  at  one  time,  as  we  find  such 
entries  in  the  register  as,  "Dan'l  J.  Warfield, 
life  ticket;  John  Purviance  and  family  of  5, 
Bait.,  life  ticket ";  other  tickets  were  only  for 
weeks  or  months;  but  tickets  of  some  sort 
seemed  to  be  required. 

Many  of  the  guests  came  in  their  own  coaches 
from  Maryland,  Virginia  and  even  farther 
south,  often  bringing  one  or  two  servants  with 
them, as* *S.  Clay  King,  daughter  and  2  servants, 
and  J.  H.  Tucker,  Maryland,  2  servants  and  3 
horses."  This  was  in  1856,  and  the  Ridgelys, 
from  Hampton,  near  Baltimore,  were  here  that 
year;  Colonel  Samuel  Black,  from  Pittsburgh, 
and  the  Honorable  James  Buchanan,  from  Lan- 
caster, soon  to  be  elected  President  of  the 
United  States.  Some  interesting  entries  are  to 
be  found  in  1824,  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lear,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. ;  probably  Tobias  Lear,  who  was 
General  Washington's  secretary  in  the  later 
years  of  his  life,  and  his  wife,  who  was  Mrs. 
Washington's  niece,  and  here  we  find  "Mrs. 
Adams,  Washington,"  evidently  Mrs.  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  with  her,  "  J.  Adams  and 
Miss  Hellen,"  her  son  and  his  fiancee. 

Something  of  the  leisurely  old-time  life  of 
the  South  seemed  to  have  belonged  to  Bedford 
in  those  days.  The  same  people  met  here  year 
after  year ;  they  drove  together,  they  walked  and 
they  talked  endlessly,  especially  if  they  came 

238 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

from  the  other  side  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line. 
The  more  sedate  playing  cards  in  the  evening, 
while  the  young  and  gay  danced  to  the  music 
of  the  fiddle  played  by  negroes,  who  beat  time 
with  their  feet  as  well  as  the  dancers.  The 
dances  were  held  in  the  large  dining-room,  where 
two  hundred  guests  assembled  by  day,  and  this 
custom  of  pushing  back  the  tables  for  the  eve- 
ning festivity,  as  Mr.  Prolix  has  described  it, 
has  continued  almost  up  to  the  present  time. 

Sarah  Bruce,  who  has  joined  me  here,  says 
that  life  at  the  Springs  was  still  much  as  Mr. 
Prolix  wrote  of  it,  when  she  came  here  with 
her  grandmother  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 
Everything  was  very  primitive  then,  no  elec- 
tric lights  and  no  automobiles  tooting  all 
through  the  beautiful  grounds.  There  was  much 
sociability  among  the  guests  at  that  time  and 
not  a  little  gayety,  as  there  were  a  number  of 
young  people  in  the  house.  Morning  germans 
were  quite  the  order  of  the  day,  and  very  charm- 
ing the  girls  looked  dancing  in  their  fresh  mus- 
lins and  organdies.  Senator  Don  Cameron  was 
here  then  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Eichard  J.  Halde- 
man,  and  Miss  Haldeman  and  a  delightful  Mr. 
George  Plummer  Smith,  from  Philadelphia, 
who  was  a  walking  encyclopedia  of  old  Penn- 
sylvania lore.  There  were  also  many  charming 
people  from  Pittsburgh  and  Washington,  as 
there  are  now,  and  McKims,  Eidgelys,  Carrolls 

16  239 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  Carters  from  Maryland  and  Virginia.  In 
deed,  Bedford  has  always  been  a  favorite  resort 
of  southern  people.  Sarah,  who  knows  more 
about  the  South  than  I  do,  says  that  Bedford, 
the  town  as  well  as  the  Springs,  reminds  her* 
constantly  of  the  South. 

For  some  years  the  Springs  suffered  an 
eclipse,  in  consequence  of  the  popularity  of  the 
foreign  Spa  among  well-to-do  Americans,  with 
the  accompanying  delights  of  a  sojourn  in  Lon- 
don or  Paris.  Since  the  upheaval  of  the 
European  world  three  years  ago,  our  country- 
men have  begun  to  realize  what  they  have  of 
value  within  their  own  borders,  and  Bedford 
has  come  into  its  own,  and  is  once  more  a  popu- 
lar and  fashionable  resort. 

Sarah  and  I  stay  on  day  after  day,  enjoying 
the  waters  and  mineral  baths  and  held  fast  by 
the  charm  of  the  old  place.  We  drive  in  the 
afternoons,  sometimes  stopping  at  the  Aranidale 
to  call  on  friends  and  after  a  spin  on  the  Lincoln 
Highway  or  on  one  of  the  other  beautiful  drives, 
lingering  in  the  town  to  shop,  often  walking 
back  through  Eichard  or  Juliana  Street.  On 
the  former  there  is  an  interesting  old  house, 
just  opposite  the  new  inn,  built  by  a  Major  Talia- 
ferro  from  Virginia,  an  elegant  gentleman  of 
the  old  school,  who  lived  here  for  many  years. 
On  Juliana  Street  is  the  home  of  the  Misses 
Barclay,  with  its  beautiful  garden  on  one  side. 

240 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

Old  residents  of  Bedford  are  the  Barclays,  as 
are  the  Russells,  whose  house  is  near  by.  An- 
other interesting  house  on  this  street  is  the 
Lyon  Mansion,  a  handsome  house  with  huge 
boxwood  bushes  at  the  sides,  a  vine-covered 
iron  fence  in  front  and  a  fine  garden  in  the  rear. 
This  house  attracted  us  by  the  beauty  of  its 
architecture  and  the  cheerful  well-to-do  look 
that  fresh  paint  and  varnish  always  give 
to  a  habitation. 

"Ancient  but  not  mouldy  and  moth-eaten!" 
exclaimed  Sarah  as  we  passed  by  and  turned 
into  the  Lincoln  Highway,  on  which  the  pretty 
little  Episcopal  Church  is  situated ;  the  handsome 
Betz  House,  and  many  other  attractive  resi- 
dences, with  lovely  gardens.  In  the  distance  we 
could  see  the  Grove,  an  old  Anderson  property, 
as  much  of  the  land  in  and  around  Bedford  as 
well  as  the  Springs,  belonged  to  this  family  and 
was  later  the  home  of  Mr.  Edward  Toss  will  Har- 
rison, whose  mother  was  an  Anderson. 

Before  leaving  Bedford  we  accepted  an  in- 
vitation to  stop  over  and  lunch  with  some 
friends  in  Hollidaysburg,  thus  gaining  several 
hours  there.  On  the  train  we  were  fortunate  in 
meeting  a  friend  and  former  official  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad,  Mr.  D.  H.  Lovell,  who  ex- 
plained to  us  what  had  always  been  most 
mysterious  to  me,  the  practical  working  of  the 
old  Portage  Railroad.  He  told  us  that  trans- 

241 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

portation  was  by  the  Juniata  Canal  to  Holli- 
daysburg,  when  the  boats  were  here  placed  on 
trucks  and  thus  conveyed  over  a  series  of  in- 
clined planes  across  the  Alleghenies.   An  engine 
at  the  top  of  each  incline  pulled  up  the  truck. 
Some  of  the  old  trucks  still  to  be  seen  were 
pointed  out  to  us.    The  descent  from  the  moun- 
tain heights  was  like  that  to  Avernus,  swift  and 
reasonably  sure.    At  the  foot  of  the  mountains 
the  boats  were  again  placed  on  a  canal  which 
carried  them  to  Pittsburgh.    Mr.  Lovell's  ex- 
planation was  very  clear,  and  we  afterwards 
saw  a  picture  of  this  primitive  method  of  trans- 
portation in  the  home  of  Mr.  J.  King  McLana- 
han,  the  "  grand  old  man  of  Hollidaysburg, "  as 
he  is  called  by  everybody  in  the  beautiful  old 
town,  which  served  to  illustrate  what  had  been 
told  us  of  the  portage  system,  which  Prolix, 
in  his  'diary  considered  a  " miracle  of  art." 
Our;  kind  hosts,  knowing  our  interest  in 
historic  events,  had  invited  some  clever  anti- 
quarians to  meet  us,  and  sitting  on  a  shaded 
porch,  which  overlooks,  one  of  the  principal 
streets,  now  the  William  Penn  Highway,  we 
were  regaled  with  tales  of  old  Hollidaysburg, 
from  the  time  of  the  Penn  grant  to  the  Holliday 
brothers,  who  settled  the  town,  to  a  much  later 
time,  when  in  1852  it  was  the  host  of  the  Hun- 
garian patriot,  General  Kossuth.   Of  this  stay  in 
Hollidaysburg  of  several  days  Mr.  Plymouth 

242 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

Snyder  told  us  an  amusing  little  story.  Kossuth 
was  warmly  welcomed  to  the  town  and  enter- 
tained by  Judge  McFarland,  the  Blairs  and 
other  leading  citizens.  While  staying  in  the 
house  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  Hollidaysburg 
families,  Kossuth  wrote  to  his  friends  of  the 
comfort  in  which  his  hosts  lived,  belonging,  as 
he  expressed  it,  "to  the  upper  class  of  peasant/' 
Kossuth,  himself  of  noble  birth,  seemed  to  know 
of  no  social  gradations  between  noble  and  peas- 
ant; and  his  remark  is  the  more  amusing  in 
view  of  the  social  position,  education  and  refine- 
ment of  the  Blairs  and  other  old  families  in  this 
aristocratic  town.  When  a  new  county  was 
organized,  it  was  named  Blair  in  recognition  of 
the  services  to  the  country  of  the  Hon.  John 
Blair,  and  again  the  first  canal  boat  that  came  to 
Hollidaysburg  was  named  the  John  Blair.  Mr. 
Blair  was  a  public-spirited  citizen  and  an  earnest 
advocate  of  internal  improvements,  for  which, 
says  his  great-granddaughter,  "he  received  a 
good  share  of  denunciation  from  those  who  were 
opposed  to  spending  public  money  for  such 
things  as  roads  and'  canals. "  A  member  of  the 
Blair  family,  as  a  girl  of  fourteen,  long  re- 
membered the  great  excitement  caused  by  the 
arrival  of  the  John  Blair,  the  crowds  of  people 
on  the  deck  of  the  boat  and  on  the  banks  of 
the  canal. 

Colonel   McClure,   in   his   "  Recollections, ' ' 

243 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

tells  of  meeting  Kossuth  at  Independence  Hall 
and  again  in  his  tour  of  the  Juniata  Valley  in  a 
village  where  the  passengers  of  the  few  through 
trains  of  the  Pennsylvania  were  dined.  Colonel 
McClure  does  not  mention  the  name  of  this  vil- 
lage ;  it  was  evidently  some  town  near  Hollidays- 
burg.  He  says,  learning  that  Kossuth  was 
coming,  "I  arranged  with  the  proprietor  of  the 
hotel  to  have  Kossuth  and  his  wife  so  disposed 
at  the  end  of  the  table  that  the  seat  reserved 
for  me  would  bring  me  next  to  them.  Railroad 
dinners  were  always  very  hurried  occasions,  and 
when  Kossuth  rushed  in  to  the  table  he  and  his 
wife  thought  much  more  of  trying  to  get  a  satis- 
factory meal  out  of  American  cooking,  to  which 
they  were  strangers,  than  of  discussing  the 
cause  of  Hungary.  Mrs.  Kossuth  was  of  medium 
size,  with  a  strong,  handsome  face,  equally  dark 
in  complexion  with  her  husband,  and  she  man- 
aged the  dinner.  As  some  of  the  dishes  were 
entirely  unknown  to  her,  she  always  first  in- 
vestigated them  by  taking  the  dish  and  holding  it 
under  her  nose  to  judge  how  palatable  it  might 
be  by  its  fragrance  and,  if  acceptable,  it  was 
handed  to  her  husband.  I  could  not  miss  the 
opportunity  to  have  another  brief  conversation 
with  the  man  who  was  then  my  great  idol  in  hero- 
worship,  and  when  I  reminded  him  of  our  meet- 
ing in  Independence  Hall,  where  he  could  not 
remember  one  in  five  thousand  of  those  who 

244 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

greeted  him,  I  had  opened  the  door  for  the  ex- 
pression of  his  heart-felt  enthusiasm  for  the 
American  people  and  their  Government  and  for 
the  bleeding  friends  he  had  left  behind  him.  He 
warmed  up  at  once,  and  my  recollection  of  the 
event  is  that  I  never  before  heard  such  fervent 
eloquence.  I  was  sorry,  indeed,  when  the  hoarse 
scream  of  the  iron  horse  called  him  away,  and 
I  parted  from  him  for  the  last  time  with  bound- 
less pride,  because  I  had  twice  met  the  greatest 
living  apostle  of  human  liberty. " 

Our  friends  told  us  of  other  and  more  ro- 
mantic associations,  still  recalled  by  old  inhabi- 
tants, who  remembered  Jenny  Lind's  visit  to 
Blair  County  in  1851.  Mr.  Snyder  related  an 
incident  connected  with  the  Swedish  singer's 
stay  at  the  Mountain  House,  which  was  situated 
at  a  railroad  junction  near  Hollidaysburg. 
While  at  this  hotel  she  engaged  a  carriage  to 
take  her  up  the  mountain  side,  and  upon  reach- 
ing a  place  from  which  there  was  an  extended 
view  of  the  distant  mountains,  the  valley  and 
the  Juniata  flowing  through  it,  she  was  so  im- 
pressed by  the  beauty  of  the  scene  that  she 
greeted  it  with  an  outburst  of  song,  so  exquisite, 
said  the  narrator,  that  the  birds,  her  only 
hearers  except  the  coachman,  must  have  felt  that 
a  rival  of  their  own  kind  had  joined  them.  The 
view  of  hill  and  valley  may  have  reminded  the 
Swedish  nightingale  of  some  scene  in  her  own 

245 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

land,  as  the  song  with,  which  she  broke  in  upon 
the  stillness  of  the  mountain  side  was  "Home, 
Sweet  Home,"  which,  it  is  said,  she  sang  with 
so  much  feeling  that  it  never  failed  to  bring 
tears  to  many  eyes  in  the  audience. 

Although  he  was  born  in  Bedford  County, 
Mr.  J.  King  McLanahan  has  lived  in  Hollidays- 
burg  the  greater  part  of  his  long  life  and  is 
always  claimed  by  this  town  as  her  leading  citi- 
zen, having  taken  an  active  part  in  the  indus- 
trial, educational  and  social  life  of  the  borough. 
Mr.  McLanahan 's  especial  interest  in  later  years 
has  been  Holliday  House,  in  whose  beautiful 
building  an  excellent  private  school  is  held  dur- 
ing the  scholastic  term,  and  in  the  summer  sea- 
son is  opened  for  guests.2 

Before  we  left  Hollidaysburg  we  were  mo- 
tored through  the  town,  past  Holliday  House, 
by  the  handsome  building  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  the  athletic  field  of  eight  acres,  both  the 
gifts  of  Mr.  James  C.  Dysart,  a  generous  and 
public-spirited  citizen,  who  feels,  as  thoughtful 
persons  are  coming  to  realize  more  and  more 
each  year,  that  parks  for  exercise,  music  and 
other  recreations  are  quite  as  much  needed  in 
our  country  towns  as  in  our  great  cities.  They 
build  higher  than  they  know  who  thus  add  op- 

2  Since  writing  the  above,  Hollidaysburg  has  been  called 
upon  to  mourn  the  loss  of  Mr.  McLanahan,  a  citizen  greatly 
beloved  and  respected. 

246 


FT.  BEDFORD,  HOLLIDAYSBURG,  JENNY  LIND 

portunities  for  healthful  recreation  and  inno- 
cent enjoyment  to  their  fellow-townsmen! 

Instead  of  leaving  this  interesting  town  by 
train  as  we  had  expected,  our  friends  motored 
us  to  Altoona,  where  we  took  the  trolley  to 
Tyrone,  and  from  there  a  train  brought  us  to 
Belief onte,  making  a  varied  trip  which  is  more 
attractive  and  far  less  tiresome  than  a  continu- 
ous railroad  journey.  It  was  late  when  we 
reached  Belief  onte;  but  our  rooms  were  await- 
ing us  at  the  Bush  House,  and  tired  as  we  were 
we  vowed  that  nothing  would  have  made  us  will- 
ing to  forego  the  delightful  day. 


XII 
THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 


WE  came  into  Bellefonte  so  late  last  night 
that  we  failed  to  appreciate  the  beauty  of  the 
approach  to  the  town  by  a  road  cut  through  the 
hills.  It  may  be  said  of  this  place,  as  of  Mt. 
Zion,  "beautiful  for  situation  on  the  sides  of 
the  north, "  and  of  the  south  as  well  for,  like 
Jerusalem,  Bellefonte  is  girt  about  by  hills, 
and  is  itself  a  hill  town.  This  fact  we  realized 
after  a  morning  spent  in  climbing  over  ascents 
to  see  old  and  interesting  houses.  We  were  for- 
tunate in  spending  our  first  day  here  with  an 
old  inhabitant,  always  the  most  delightful 
guide,  for  with  such  a  cicerone  one  gets  some- 
thing more  than  dry  facts,  and  if  some  fiction 
in  the  way  of  tradition  is  thrown  in,  it  serves 
to  light  up  the  story,  and  after  all  there  is  a 
foundation  of  fact  in  most  local  tales.  We  saw 
the  oldest  house  in  the  town  and  the  newest, 
which  is  much  less  attractive,  and  the  lovely 
old  Friends'  Meeting,  built  by  a  Valentine; 
indeed,  most  of  the  old  houses  were  built  by 
one  of  the  Valentine  brothers.  This  Friend  Val- 
entine, finding  no  meeting-house  in  the  town 
when  he  came  to  Bellefonte,  held  meetings  on 
the  hillside,  until  a  suitable  building  could  be 

248 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 

erected.  This  most  picturesque  meeting-house 
is  at  the  top  of  a  steep  hill  and  with  its  moss- 
grown  roof  and  overhanging  eaves  is  a  bit  of 
old-world  beauty  and  quaintness,  in  strong  con- 
trast with  the  handsome  but  quite  modern  and 
unpicturesque  Academy  buildings  near  by. 

A  stone  house  at  the  corner  of  High  and 
Spring  Streets  was  pointed  out  to  us  as  the 
oldest  residence  in  the  town,  built  by  Colonel 
James  Dunlop.  After  serving  in  Canada  under 
Colonel  William  Irvine  and  holding  a  commis- 
sion in  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  Colonel  Dunlop 
came  to  Bald  Eagle  township  in  1796  and  bought 
a  part  of  the  extensive  Griffith  Gibson  tract  upon 
which  Bellefonte  is  situated.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  resident  of  the  town,  which 
he  and  his  son-in-law,  James  Harris,  laid  out, 
the  site  being  chosen  on  account  of  the  beautiful 
spring  of  pure  water  which  they  found  here. 
Jame,s  Harris,  a  public-spirited  citizen,  bought 
the  property  on  which  the  spring  is  situated  and 
by  deed  secured  its  use  to  the  town  for  all  time. 
He  and  his  father-in-law,  Colonel  Dunlop,  were 
prime  movers  in  establishing  a  public  school 
or  academy  soon  after  the  town  was  laid  out, 
of  which  the  big  building  on  the  hill  by  the 
Friends'  Meeting  is  the  outcome.  In  this  good 
work  many  citizens  of  Centre  County  took  an 
active  part.  The  first  meeting  was  held  in  the 
house  of  Benjamin  Patton,  and  among  the 

249 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

trustees  were  James  Dunlop,  Eoland  Curtin, 
James  Potter,  Andrew  Gregg  and  John  Hall. 
The  Reverend  Henry  R.  Wilson  was  the  first 
principal  of  the  academy  and  when  he  removed 
to  Carlisle  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Eeverend 
James  Linn. 

On  High  Street,  once  the  fashionable  quar- 
ter of  the  town,  is  the  former  home  of  Governor 
Curtin,  and  this  street  led  us  to  the  Court  House, 
where  there  is  a  fine  full-length  statue  of  the 
great  war  Governor,  whom  his  native  town  de- 
lights to  honor.  Flanking  this  very  handsome 
statue  are  bronze  tablets  representing  in  low 
relief  important  events  in  the  Governor's  life 
and  in  that  of  the  Nation  which  he  served 
so  ably. 

Bellefonte  may  well  be  spoken  of  as  the 
mother  of  governors,  as  from  it  have  come  two 
other  governors  of  Pennsylvania,  James  A. 
Beaver  and  Daniel  H.  Hastings,  both  of  whom 
had  an  honorable  war  record  prior  to  their 
election  to  civic  administration.  The  Hastings 
and  Beaver  residences  are  on  the  heights  over- 
looking the  old  town,  and  here  are  many  hand- 
some houses  with  terraced  gardens  and  sev- 
eral beautiful  churches,  this  being  now  the  court 
end  of  the  town  and  yet  lacking  to  us  the  interest 
to  be  found  in  the  older  buildings.  A  number 
of  the  houses  are  on  Allegheny  Street,  among 
these  the  Linn  House,  which  celebrated  its  cen- 
tenary several  years  since.  Mr.  Henry  Sage 

250 


BURNHAM,   BUILT  IN  1811,   ENLARGED  BY   REUBEN   BOND  VALENTINE  IN   1857 


THE  LINN   HOUSE,  BUILT  IN   1810,  STILL  RESIDENCE  OF 
LINN  FAMILY 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 

Linn  and  his  sister,  who  live  in  this  house,  are 
the  children  of  Mr.  John  Blair  Linn,  the  his- 
torian of  the  Buffalo  valley  and  of  many  other 
sections  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  pride  and  wonder  of  Belief  onte  and  what 
makes  it  quite  different  from  other  towns  is  its 
beautiful  spring,  which  has  its  rise  in  some 
distant  source.  Here  at  the  rate  of  fourteen 
thousand  gallons  per  minute  this  water  bubbles 
up,  supplying  the  town  with  pure  water,  the 
surplus  rushing  through  it  like  a  river  and  by 
the  Bush  House,  where  we  were  lulled  to  sleep 
at  night  by  the  delightful  sound  of  a  rush- 
ing stream. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  town  owes 
its  name  to  its  beautiful  spring  and  in  an  old 
house  still  standing  on  the  turnpike  it  was 
christened.  One  story  is  that  Mrs.  James 
Harris,  who  lived  in  this  house,  an  odd-looking 
structure  with  three  porches  or  balconies,  gave 
the  name  to  the  town ;  but  a  much  more  probable 
story  is  that  Talleyrand,  who  visited  the  Dun- 
lops  or  Harrises,  bestowed  upon  it  its  French 
name,  Belief  onte,  beautiful  spring. 

Other  interesting  houses  are  the  Benner 
house  and  several  Curtin  houses,  as  two 
brothers,  Dr.  Constanz  Curtin  and  Roland  Cur- 
tin,  were  early  settlers  here.  The  Curtin 
brothers  came  from  County  Clare,  Ireland ;  the 
f  onner,  a  surgeon  in  the  Royal  Navy,  practiced 
his  profession  in  Belief  onte;  the  latter,  Roland 

251 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Curtin,  was  in  the  iron  business,  and  in  connec- 
tion with  Moses  Boggs  built  Eagle  Forge,  on 
Bald  Eagle  Creek,  about  five  miles  from  Belle- 
f onte.  Eoland  Curtin,  the  iron  master,  was  the 
father  of  Governor  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  and  Dr. 
Constanz  Curtin  was  the  father  of  Dr.  Eoland 
G.  Curtin,  of  Philadelphia. 

It  seems  as  if  no  town  of  distinction  was 
quite  complete  in  early  times  without  its  neigh- 
boring band  of  highway  robbers.  Doylestown, 
in  Bucks  County,  had  its  Doane  brothers,  the 
ruins  of  whose  stronghold  are  still  pointed  out 
to  credulous  tourists,  and  Bedford  had  its  cele- 
brated Davy  Lewis,  whose  stronghold  was  on 
Lookout  Mountain,  in  one  of  the  ranges  near 
Bedford,  to  which  he  is  said  to  have  given  the 
name,  as  he  had  a  desirable  point  of  observation 
from  which  he  could  view  the  highway  up  and 
down  for  some  distance.  This  bandit  and  his 
associates  seem  to  have  divided  their  attentions 
between  the  Juniata  and  the  Bald  Eagle  valleys. 

As  we  were  passing  by  an  old  house  on  Alle- 
gheny Street,  Mrs.  N told  us  that  the  Lewis 

robbers  roamed  through  this  region  even  as  late 
as  her  mother's  time  and  that  one  of  them  en- 
tered this  house  in  broad  daylight.  Her  mother, 
then  a  young  girl,  saw  a  powerful-looking  man 
passing  through  the  hall.  She  was  too  badly 
frightened  to  give  the  alarm  at  once  and  the 
intruder,  being  an  expeditious  gentleman  and  an 
adept  in  his  profession,  helped  himself  and 

252 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 

escaped  with  his  loot  before  Miss  Morris  had 
recovered  from  her  fright  sufficiently  to  sum- 
mon aid.  This,  Mrs.  N says,  is  a  true  tale 

as  it  was  told  her  by  her  mother. 

While  I  further  explored  the  old  part  of  the 
town  with  Mrs.  N ,  Sarah  devoted  her  morn- 
ing to  looking  over  ancient  records  in  the  Court 
House.  She  came  in  to  luncheon  looking  so 
happy  over  her  discoveries  that  I  asked  her  if 
she  had  found  any  gold  nuggets  among 
the  records. 

"No,  only  nuggets  of  information;  the  old 
wills  are  most  interesting.  People  left  cows  and 
calves  and  colts  and  even  feather  beds  to  their 
children  and  grandchildren,  just  as  they  did  in 
Shakespeare's  time.  An  Ellen  Graham  be- 
queathed to  her  granddaughter  Ellen  a  bay 
mare  and  a  feather  bed ;  but  besides  these  amus- 
ing items  I  found  a  number  of  things  that  I 
really  need." 

These  genealogists  are  queer  folk ;  they  seem 
just  as  much  pleased  when  they  find  a  missing 
link  or  trace  out  a  line  as  if  they  had  found  the 
pot  of  gold  at  the  end  of  the  rainbow. 

"I  find,"  continued  Sarah,  "that  Kathleen 
is  directly  descended  from  Colonel  Dunlop,  who 
owned  the  tract  on  which  Belief  onte  is  situated. 
And  here  again  I  find  a  link  with  old  Donegal, 
as  Colonel  Dunlop  married  Jane  Boggs,  whose 
father  was  Captain  Andrew  Boggs,  one  of  the 
founders  there,  and  all  the  Harrises,  Blanch- 

253 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

ards  and  a  lot  of  other  important  people  here 
belong'  to  that  line;  it  all  works  out  like  a 
problem  in  mathematics. 

"Kathleen  had  better  come  here  and  pay 
some  attention  to  her  ancestors ;  they  are  quite 
worth  while.  What  is  she  doing  in  Wash- 
ington any  way  ?" 

"I  think  Kathleen  is  more  interested  in 
futures  than  in  ancestors/'  I  said,  laughing  over 
Sarah's  enthusiasm. 

"Is  that  really  so?" 

Sarah  and  I  have  been  so  much  together  that 
we  have  formed  a  sort  of  habit  of  talking  to 
each  other  in  shorthand,  and  when  I  added, 
"What  else  can  you  expect  when  you  present 
an  altogether  delightful  man  to  a  charming 
young  woman  ? ' '  she  said : 

"  Oh !  of  course,  I  expected  Mr.  Henderson  to 
be  bowled  over;  but  I  never  thought  of  Kath- 
leen caring  for  anyone  else;  the  romance  of  her 
life  seemed  to  end  with  Howard's  death." 

"Love,  like  hope,  springs  eternal  in  the 
human  breast,"  with  which  trite  remark  we 
separated  to  dress  for  an  afternoon  and  evening 
at  one  of  the  old  Valentine  houses;  this  one  a 
little  way  out  of  town  on  the  turnpike,  which  was 
built  by  Reuben  Bond  Valentine  near  the  stream 
called  "Logan's  Branch." 

There  are  a  number  of  interesting  houses 
near  Belief  onte;  Willow  Bank,  which  belonged 

254 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 

to  the  Valentines,  a  hospitable  home  remem- 
bered as  the  scene  of  many  pleasures  in  the  past ; 
but  now,  down  in  the  world,  it  has  come  to  be  the 
county  almshouse.  Another  house  some  miles 
out  of  town  on  the  Lewistown  Pike  was  the  home 
of  Mrs.  Jane  Mann,  the  railroad  station  there 
being  named  "Axemann."  Mrs.  Mann,  who 
was  a  daughter  of  Judge  Burnside,  lived  alone 
after  her  husband's  death  and  carried  on  an  axe 
factory  established  by  him,  in  which  a  number 
of  men  were  employed,  many  foreigners  and 
some  rather  rough  specimens  of  humanity. 
People  wondered  how  Mrs.  Mann  was  content  to 
live  alone  with  so  many  rough  men  around  her. 
She  was  evidently  a  woman  of  strong  character 
and  one  who  had  boundless  faith  in  human  na- 
ture and  knew  how  to  appeal  to  its  best  side. 
She  was  wont  to  say  that  she  protected  herself 
by  never  locking  a  door  in  her  home,  or  in  her 
springhouse.  When  the  milk  was  brought  in 
from  her  farm,  Mrs.  Mann  regularly  filled  three 
cans  or  crocks  and  left  them  in  the  springhouse, 
where  the  fresh  cool  water  bubbled  up  continu- 
ally; one  can  was  marked  "For  the  wayfarer, " 
a  second  ' '  For  the  widow  and  orphan,  each  take 
one  quart, "  and  a  third  "For  personal  use,  do 
not  touch/'  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  gen- 
erous woman's  own  can  of  milk  was  never 
tampered  with. 

In  Mrs.  Mann's  last  illness  she  had  the  care 

17  255 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  companionship  of  a  relative  from  Philadel- 
phia, a  lovely  lady  who  described  the  strange 
scene  in  this  lonely  roadside  house,  where  her 
own  vigils  were  shared  by  workmen  from  the 
factory,  who  took  turns  in  spending  the  long 
hours  of  the  night  by  Mrs.  Mann's  fireside  in 
order  to  be  at  hand  in  case  the  mistress,  whom 
they  loved  and  honored,  should  need  their  help. 

One  afternoon  we  spent  at  Rockview,  about 
five  miles  south  of  Belief  onte,  where  a  very  in- 
teresting experiment  in  penal  reform  is  being 
carried  on.  I  was  delighted  when  an  invitation 
from  the  warden  came,  and  with  it  a  motor  to 
take  us  there,  as  I  had  heard  so  much  of  this 
prison  farm  in  Centre  County  and  of  how  it 
was  established. 

For  many  years  the  late  Mr.  Francis  J.  Tor- 
ranee  and  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  of  which 
he  was  then  president,  had  a  plan  for  the  estab- 
lishing of  a  prison  farm,  in  which  Mr.  John 
Francies,  who  for  some  years  has  been  warden 
of  the  Western  Penitentiary,  in  Pittsburgh,  was 
heartily  in  favor.  Indeed,  he  was  so  obsessed 
by  a  vision  of  his  prisoners  of  various  classes 
working  in  the  open,  breathing  fresh  air,  feel- 
ing the  sun  of  heaven  and  the  rain,  too,  for  the 
matter  of  that,  and  on  the  whole  spending  their 
days  like  human  beings,  that  he  wa;s  moved  to 
speak  of  it  before  the  Legislature  at  Harrisburg 
in  1911.  This  speech  was  listened  to  atten- 

256 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 

tively  and  the  result  was  a  bill  passed  by  the 
Legislature,  March  30,  1911.  This  bill,  signed 
by  Governor  John  Tener,  who  was  heart  and 
soul  in  favor  of  the  undertaking,  provided  for 
the  purchase  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  of 
land  for  the  purpose  set  forth  by  Mr.  Francies. 
After  inspecting  other  locations,  this  most 
desirable  property  of  over  five  thousand  acres 
was  decided  upon.  Of  this  tract  nearly  one 
thousand  acres  already  belonged  to  the  State 
Forest  Eeservation,  and  the  additional  four 
thousand  three  hundred  and  eighteen  acres  were 
bought  by  the  state.  Old  farms  and  orchards 
are  included  in  this  tract,  forests  and  mountain 
sides,  a  varied  and  beautiful  panorama,  as  we 
viewed  the  landscape  from  the  prison  buildings, 
which  are  on  so  great  a  height  that  the  prison- 
ers cannot  see  the  walls  of  their  enclosure  from 
the  prison.  So  here  in  Pennsylvania  is  being 
proved  what  the  young  English  poet,  Lovelace, 
wrote  from  his  little  prison  in  Cambridge  so 
many  years  ago : 

Stone  walls  do  not   a  prison  make 
Or  iron  bars  a  cage. 

' '  These  prisoners  working  in  the  open  must 
sometimes  forget  that  they  are  prisoners, "  said 
Sarah,  as  we  passed  by  some  of  them  at  work 
on  the  unfinished  buildings,  hauling  stone  and 
breaking  it  up  to  make  concrete  for  the  walls. 
Others  were  bringing  in  great  baskets  of  vege- 

257 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

tables  from  the  truck  patch  of  ninety-seven,  acres. 

"They  don't  look  like  prisoners,  Mr.  Fran- 
cies,  they  look  like  American  citizens." 

1  '  That  is  what  we  are  trying  to  make  them,' ' 
was  the  reply. 

We  were  motored  all  over  the  grounds, 
through  the  woods  and  by  the  mountain  stream 
that  runs  through  them.  We  saw  the  cows,  pigs 
and  chickens ;  but  what  interested  us  most  was 
the  part  of  the  farm  where  the  colts  were 
raised.  We  thought  of  the  interest  the  pris- 
oners naturally  would  take  in  these  beautiful 
creatures,  and  what  a  valuable  asset  were  these 
fifteen  fine-blooded  colts ! 

We  had  supper  with  the  warden  and  his  fam- 
ily and  while  sitting  on  the  porch  in  the  twilight, 
by  dint  of  asking  a  number  of  questions,  we  drew 
from  Mr.  Francies  some  details  of  the  beginning 
of  the  work  at  Eockview.  He  told  us  that  he 
came  here  with  one  prisoner,  and  that  at  a  way 
station  where  they  were  waiting  for  a  train  he 
was  interested  in  talking  to  some  one,  when  his 
prisoner  came  up  to  him  and  warned  him  that 
he  would  miss  the  train  if  he  was  not  careful,— 
the  train  that  was  to  take  him  to  prison ! 

"I  don't  wonder  that  the  prisoners  want 
to  come  here,''  said  Sarah.  "I  should  think 
that  all  your  rooms  would  be  engaged  for 
next  summer. " 

"Now,  it's  not  as  bad  as  that,  Miss  Bruce, 

258 


THE  CITY  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  SPRING 

and  I  want  you  to  understand  that  we  are  not 
too  soft  with  our  prisoners ;  we  have  strict  regu- 
lations here,  and  they  have  to  be  kept.  What  we 
try  to  do  is  to  establish  relations  with  our  pris- 
oners and  so  make  them  understand  that  we  are 
not  working  against  them.  After  I  brought  the 
first  man  here  and  worked  with  him  alone  for 
some  days,  I  had  another  prisoner  brought  here, 
and  when  I  overheard  my  first  man  say  to  the 
new  arrival,  '  The  old  man 's  all  right,  you  treat 
him  white, r  I  felt  that  I  had  won  the  day. ' ' 

"That  was  certainly  worth  while, "  and  as 
we  took  our  leave,  I  said:  "You  have  given  us 
much  to  think  about,  Mr.  Francies,  and  one  more 
reason  for  being  proud  of  our  own  state.  I 
fancy  that  many  good  people  in  Pennsylvania 
who  know  of  prison  reforms  in  New  York,  Mas- 
sachusetts and  even  in  California,  know  nothing 
of  this  important  work  in  their  own  state. " 

"Very  likely,  but  that  does  not  keep  the 
work  from  going  on." 

"No,  that  is  the  right  way  to  look  at  it;  but 
I  always  like  to  see  credit  given  where  credit 
is  due." 

As  we  drove  away,  Sarah  turned  back  and 
said:  "If  I  ever  write  a  book  it  shall  be  called 
<How  To  Be  Happy  Though  in  Prison.'  " 

"A  companion  to  'How  To  Be  Happy 
Though  Married.'  "  Mr.  Francies  called  after 
us,  laughing  heartily,  "I  have  known  both." 


XIII 
SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 


PICTUBESQUE  as  the  Susquehanna  is  in  many 
places,  it  seems  more  beautiful  than  ever  at  Sun- 
bury  and  Northumberland,  for  here  the  two 
tributaries  of  the  great  river  meet.  The  West 
Branch  has  its  rise  near  the  head  of  the  Alle- 
gheny River  and  flows  by  Lock  Haven,  Williams- 
port,  Lewistown  and  many  another  town  to 
Northumberland,  where  it  throws  itself  into  the 
arms  of  the  North  Branch,  which  has  come  a 
long  and  winding  way  from  Otsego  Lake  in  New 
York,  by  Binghamton,  Towanda,  Asylum,  Pitts- 
ton  and  Wilkes-Barre  to  this  trysting  place. 
Sunbury  was  built  upon  the  site  of  an  Indian  vil- 
lage, and  a  very  important  one,  as  Shamokin 
was  the  headquarters  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Six 
Nations,  among  them  Shikellamy,  the  best  of 
them  all,  in  whose  honor  a  boulder  is  marked 
with  a  tablet,  which  has  the  following  inscrip- 
tion: "Erected  as  a  memorial  to — Shikellamy, 
also  Swatane,  'Our  Enlightener, '  the  represen- 
tative of  the  Six  Nations  in  this  Province.  First 
sent  to  Shamokin  [Sunbury]  in  1728.  Appointed 
vice-regent  in  1745,  died  December  6, 1748.  He 
was  buried  near  this  spot.  This  diplomat  and 
statesman  was  a  firm  friend  of  the  Province  of 

260 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 


Pennsylvania.  Erected  by  the  Port  Augusta 
Chapter,  D.  A.  R.,  in  cooperation  with  the  Penn- 
sylvania Historical  Commission.  June,  1915." 

Sunbury  was  very  much  exposed  to  In- 
dian forays  and  sadly  in  need  of  defenses ;  but 
it  was  not  until  after  the  frightful  massacre  on 
the  banks  of  Penn's  Creek,  where  Selinsgrove 
now  stands,  that  Fort  Augusta  was  built,  just 
below  the  confluence  of  the  two  branches  of  the 
river,  where  it  commanded  the  approach  to  the 
valley.  Nothing  is  now  left  of  this  once  im- 
portant outpost  except  the  powder  magazine, 
which  is  still  in  good  condition.  The  stockades 
reached  as  far  as  the  old  home  of  Judge  Don- 
nel,  on  Market  Square,  which  is  now  in  the  center 
of  the  town. 

We  were  fortunate  in  having  come  to  Sun- 
bury  some  years  since,  before  it  had  been  drawn 
into  the  turmoil  of  business  activities,  and  still 
retained  much  of  its  village  charm.  In  those 
days  we  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  the  recol- 
lections of  a  delightful  woman  who  had  lived 
in  Sunbury  in  her  girlhood,  before  the  several 
railroads  that  meet  here  and  the  great  silk 
mills  had  transformed  the  place.  And  to  make  a 
link  between  her  own  time  and  a  still  more  re- 
mote past,  our  charming  raconteuse  had  talked 
to  former  residents,  among  whom  were  several 
who  had  lived  through  those  days  of  danger 
and  distress  when  the  beautiful  valley  of  the 

261 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Wyoming  on  the  north  had  been  laid  waste.  She 
had  also  known  some  of  those  who  were  able  to 
make  their  escape  from  the  massacre  and  came 
down  the  river  in  boats  to  find  a  place  of  refuge 
at  Fort  Augusta. 

Other  and  gayer  scenes  of  her  girlhood  this 
lady  described,  among  them  the  advent  of  Mr. 
John  Mason,  son  of  Thomas  Mason,  an  English- 
man, who  came  to  Philadelphia  where  he  en- 
gaged in  commerce  and  owned  many  vessels. 
John  Mason  came  to  Sunbury  in  his  old  age, 
built  a  spacious  mansion,  with  a  great  hall 
on  top  of  the  house  for  dancing,  and 
here  beautiful  parties  were  given  which  were 
the  delight  of  the  young  people.  Near  Mr. 
Mason's  house,  which  was  on  top  of  Blue 
Hill,  opposite  Northumberland,  he  erected 
an  observatory,  which  was  the  wonder  of  the 
whole  countryside.  This  observatory,  or  lean- 
ing tower,  as  it  was  called,  for  it  literally 
hung  over  a  sheer  precipice  of  about  four  hun- 
dred feet,  was  built  upon  four  logs  and  had 
three  stories  and  a  balcony.  Mr.  Mason  was 
in  the  habit  of  riding  about  the  country  on  his 
gray  pony  and,  meeting  him  on  the  road,  as  she 
often  did,  walking  and  leading  his  pony  by  the 
bridle,  our  narrator  said  that  he  was  the  living 
image  of  the  statue  of  Old  Mortality  which  stands 
by  one  of  the  entrances  to  Laurel  Hill  Cemetery 
in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Mason  and  his  house  and 
his  collection  of  books  have  long  since  disap- 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 


peared,  some  of  the  latter  having  been  sold  by 
the  peck  at  a  public  sale.  Some  intelligent 
neighbors  of  Mr.  Mason  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
secure  several  pecks  of  books  from  the  once- 
treasured  library. 

My  old  friend,  who  was  the  widow  of  one  of  the 
leading  lawyers  of  Sunbury,  Judge  C.  B.  Don- 
nel,  spoke  of  the  great  interest  and  excite- 
ment of  summer,  marking  the  convening  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  which  met  for  some  years  in 
this  town  and  brought  to  its  sessions  great 
lawyers  from  all  over  the  state.  From  Phila- 
delphia came  Judge  Cadwalader,  Chief  Justice 
Tilghman,  Horace  Binney,  William  Eawle, 
Philip  Nicklin,  Thomas  I.  Wharton  and  many 
other  clever  jurists.  These  lawyers  came  in 
their  coaches  in  early  days  and  later  by  the 
canal.  Judge  Burnside  came  across  country 
from  his  home  in  Belief  onte,  or  down  the  river 
from  Wilkes-Barre,  where  he  lived  for  some 
time,  and  from  the  same  place  came  his  brother- 
in-law,  Judge  Huston,  Judge  Henry  M.  Fuller 
and  Judge  Conyngham.  There  was  always  a 
notable  representation  of  the  legal  fraternity 
from  Wilkes-Barre,  which  has  been  distin- 
guished early  and  late  for  its  able  jurists.  Mrs. 
Donnel  said  that  the  judges  generally  arrived 
the  first  Sunday  in  August  and  before  church 
time  in  the  morning.  Judge  Cadwalader  drove 
all  the  way  from  Philadelphia  in  his  coach; 

263 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

those  traveling  from  a  greater  distance,  as 
Judge  Brackenridge  and  Judge  Wilkins,  from 
Pittsburgh,  came  part  of  the  way  by  canal  to 
Northumberland  and  took  the  stage-coach  there 
for  Sunbury.  Judge  Yeates  came  from  Lan- 
caster and  Judges  Henderson  and  Gibson 
from  Carlisle;  the  latter,  Mrs.  Donnel  said,  was 
a  great  favorite  with  the  Sunbury  children,  hav- 
ing won  his  way  to  their  affections  by  his  clever 
pencil  sketches.  While  the  long  speeches  were 
being  made  in  Court,  Judge  Gibson  was  wont 
to  amuse  himself  by  drawing  caricatures  of  his 
associated,  which  he  often  threw  out  of  the  win- 
dow to  the  children  passing  by  in  the  street. 

One  morning  we  crossed  the  river  to  North- 
umberland and  made  our  way  to  the  home  of 
Dr.  Joseph  Priestly,  which  is  surrounded  by  a 
fine  lawn,  which  slopes  down  to  the  river.  Stand- 
ing on  the  railroad  bank,  we  had  a  good  view 
of  the  house,  of  which  Sarah  took  a  photograph. 
The  window  on  the  right  side  of  the  front  door 
has  a  crescent-shaped  opening,  through  which 
Priestly  is  said  to  have  made  his  experiments 
with  the  prismatic  rays. 

The  story  of  the  emigration  from  his  home 
in  Yorkshire,  England,  of  this  "chemist  and 
non-conformist  minister"  is  interesting.  It  ap- 
pears that  Priestly 's  two  .sons  and  his  friend, 
Dr.  Thomas  Cooper,  came  to  Northumberland 
first,  became  so  much  interested  in  a  settlement 

264 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 


on  the  Susquehanna  and  wrote  home  so  enthusi- 
astically of  its  advantages  that  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Priestly  joined  them  in  July,  1794,  and  liked 
the  place  so  well  that  they  concluded  to  remain 
in  Northumberland.  Here  Priestly  preached 
and  worked  upon  his  scientific  experiments,  the 
discovery  of  oxygen  being  his  most  valuable 
contribution  to  science.  Some  of  Doctor 
Priestly 's  descendants  are  still  living  in 
Northumberland. 

Another  morning  we  went  by  trolley  to  Sel- 
insgrove,  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Susque- 
hanna. Through  the  town  runs  Penn's  Creek, 
which  has  its  source  in  Centre  County.  This 
stream  divides  the  town  into  two  parts,  the  sec- 
tion between  the  river  and  the  creek  being  on 
the  Isle  of  Que,  a  name  that  has  always  fascin- 
ated me.  The  island  is  supposed  to  have  been 
so  named  by  some  French  settler  on  account  of 
its  shape  being  like  that  of  the  queues  which  were 
so  fashionable  in  early  times.  Selinsgrove  is  an 
old  town,  the  first  settlement  by  George  Gabriel, 
a  trader,  dating  back  to  1745,  but  within  a  few 
years  it  has  been  growing  in  size  and  importance 
by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  now  contains  many 
handsome  residences  and  fine  public  buildings. 
Among  the  older  houses  we  were  shown  the  for- 
mer residence  of  Governor  Simon  Snyder,  who, 
although  born  in  Lancaster,  lived  in  Selinsgrove 
for  many  years.  As  War  Governor  in  1812, 

265 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Simon  Snyder  served  Ms  State  with  so  much 
ability  that  he  was  reflected  twice  and  so  had 
three  successive  terms  as  Chief  Executive  of 
the  Commonwealth. 

This  evening  I  had  a  letter  from  Kathleen, 
who  purposes  to  meet  us  in  Scranton  the  latter 
part  of  this  week. 

"Why  Scranton?"  Sarah  asked. 

"Because  Scranton  is  nearer  New  York 
than  Sunbury." 

1 '  So  Kathleen  is  in  New  York! ' ' 

"Yes,  doubtless  seeing  Mr.  Henderson  off. " 

"Is  it  as  bad  as  that  1" 

"Yes,  quite  as  bad,"  I  said  laughing. 

"You  see  I  thought  we  should  have  Kath- 
leen all  to  ourselves,  and  now  we  shall  have  to 
share  her  with  someone  else,  which  is  discon- 
certing, to  say  the  least. ' ' 

"I  understand,  and  in  a  way  I  share  your 
regret;  but  let  us  enjoy  for  the  present  what 
the  gods  send  us.  Kathleen  writes  that  her  car 
will  be  at  our  disposal,  and  that  she  is  ready  to 
go  with  us  anywhere  that  we  wish.  Her  new 
chauffeur  is  fairly  good  and  quite  intelligent 
about  finding  his  way  on  strange  roads. " 

"That  sounds  encouraging  and  now,  by  all 
means,  let  us  go  to  Bradford  County;  it  will  be 
in  line  with  what  we  see  here  and  around  Wilkes- 
Barre.  I  have  read  somewhere  that  the  British 
and  Indians  assembled  at  Tioga  Point  in  1778 

266 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

before  going  down  the  river  to  attack  the  Ply- 
mouth settlement.  Bradford  County  was  then 
a  part  of  Luzerne  County  and  near  Tioga  Point, 
which  is  now  Athens,  the  famous  Queen  Esther 
had  her  headquarters  for  a  while,  and  from  this 
place  was  able  to  join  the  forces  that  set  forth 
against  Plymouth.  You  see  how  Tioga  Point, 
or  Diahoga,  as  the  Indians  called  it,  fits  into  the 
story  of  Wyoming.  Then  Asylum,  the  old 
French  settlement,  that  I  am  anxious  to  see,  is 
only  a  few  miles  north  of  Athens.  I  was  cheated 
out  of  my  trip  there  in  June,  as  you  know. ' f 

"You  shall  not  be  cheated  out  of  it  now, 
dear;  Kathleen  will  be  so  inspired  by  your 
eloquence  that  she  will  be  ready  to  set  forth  at 
once  for  Bradford  County.  You  know  so  much 
that  is  interesting  about  these  old  Pennsylvania 
settlements  that  a  car  should  always  be  waiting 
to  take  you  wherever  you  wish  to  go. ' ' 

"Why  not  go  to  Wilkes-Barre  this  after- 
noon and  have  a  few  hours  in  the  Wyoming  His- 
torical Society  instead  of  waiting  until  tomor- 
row morning ?"  I  asked.  "They  have  so  many 
valuable  and  interesting  papers  and  collections 
there,  and  that  will  give  us  two  full  days 
in  Wilkes-Barre  before  we  meet  Kathleen 
in  Scranton." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  my  suggestion)  was 
accepted  with  alacrity  by  my  companion,  who 
was  evidently  keen  for  further  research. 

267 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

We  had  often  made  the  journey  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Wilkes-Barre  by  Bethlehem  and  the 
Water  Gap  and  by  Pottsville;  but  this  after- 
noon's trip  from  Sunbury,  all  the  way  by  the 
side  of  the  North  Branch  of  the  Susquehanna, 
seemed  to  us  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  routes. 
The  river  is  so  broad  in  some  places  that  it 
seems  like  a  lake  dotted  over  with  pretty,  well- 
wooded  islands,  once  the  favorite  fishing  and 
hunting  grounds  of  the  Indians,  of  whom  we 
were  reminded  by  the  names  of  many  of  the 
towns  that  we  passed,  through,  as  Catawissa, 
Shickshinny,  Mocanaqua  and  Nanticoke,  the 
latter  quite  near  Plymouth.  Wilkes-Barre  has 
been  called  the  eastern  gateway  to  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  and  a  very  beautiful  gateway  it  is,  girt 
about  by  mountains  with  the  broad  Susque- 
hanna flowing  between  the  old  and  the  newer 
part  of  the  town  over  toward  Kingston.  It  has, 
in  addition  to  its  natural  advantages,  all  that 
loyal  and  intelligent  citizenship  can  do  to  make 
it  a  delightful  place  of  residence.  There  are 
river  banks  in  many  towns  that,  like  Words- 
worth's primrose,  are  river  banks  and  nothing 
more;  but  here  the  bank  of  the  Susquehanna 
has  been  made  into  a  riverside  park,  with  walks 
and  seats  conveniently  placed.  Here  we  sat  in 
the  evening  for  hours,  enjoying  the  beauty  of 
the  shining  river,  the  mountains  beyond  and 
near  us  the  parterres  of  fragrant  flowers,  with 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

which  the  walks  are  bordered.  On  River  Street, 
and  on  Franklin  and  West  South  street  are  the 
beautiful  homes  of  the  old  Wilkes-Barre  fam- 
ilies, most  of  whom  have  been  loyal  to  their  own 
town  probably  because  they  could  find  no  better 
place  of  residence. 

This  city  has  never  been  recommended  to  us 
as  a  summer  resort,  although  the  Wyoming  Val- 
ley Hotel  is  said  to  have  been  often  filled  with 
summer  visitors  back  in  the  sixties.  The  evening 
of  our  arrival  happened  to  follow  one  of  the 
cool  days  that  sometimes  break  in  upon  the  tor- 
rid heat  of  midsummer,  and  as  we  strolled  about 
the  streets  it  seemed  strange  to  have  all  our 
friends  away  from  this  pleasant,  breezy  town. 
They  were  probably  sitting  by  blazing  wood  fires 
at  Bear  Creek,  Bear  Lake  or  Harvey's  Lake, 
rejoicing  over  the  coolness  of  their  surround- 
ings and  wasting  no  end  of  sympathy  over  the 
unfortunate  denizens  of  cities. 

Of  course,  we  spent  the  entire  morning  in  the 
rooms  of  the  very  attractive  Historical  Society 
on  Franklin  Street,  where  we  found  much  to 
interest  us,  among  other  things  a  delightful 
paper  in  which  Mr.  George  R.  Bedford,  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  has  given  his  own  early  recol- 
lections of  this  city  and  the  surrounding  towns.1 
The  literature  of  the  most  noted  historical  event 

*Mr.  Bedford's  valuable  paper  has  since  been  add-ed  to 
and  printed  under  the  title  "  Some  Early  Recollections/' 

269 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  this  region,  the  Wyoming  massacre,  is,  of 
course,  inexhaustible;  but  it  was  interesting  to 
get  the  result  of  the  latest  studies  of  this  sub- 
ject, for  the  members  of  this  Society  are  always 
delving  into  records  of  the  past  and  throwing 
new  light  on  bygone  days.  Not  long  since 
they  discovered  that  Major  John  Butler,  who 
came  down  the  Susquehanna  with  his  eleven 
thousand  British  Tories  and  Indians  to  demand 
the  surrender  of  the  Wyoming  forts,  with  their 
Continental  stores,  was  a  shade  less  black  than 
he  had  been  painted. 

"I  have  always  thought  of  him  as  jet  black/' 
I  said,  "and  I  don't  like  to  have  him 
painted  gray. ' ' 

"But  we  must  be  exact,"  said  Sarah,  who  is 
nothing  if  not  accurate. ' '  The  employing  of  the 
savages  against  our  people  was  the  serious  mis- 
take ;  the  fact  that  the  French  had  already  used 
them  does  not  exonerate  the  British  for  leading 
them  against  their  own  Colonists ;  but  later  re- 
searches show  that  Major  Butler  warned  the 
people  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Forty  Fort  to 
remain  there  and  to  destroy  all  liquor,  as  other- 
wise he  would  not  be  able  to  control  them.  From 
his  own  family  history  Mr.  Bedford  has  been 
able  to  prove  that  Major  Butler  did  everything 
in  his  power  to  protect  the  inmates  of  the  fort. 
He  says :  ' Major  Butler  advised  our  family  and 
others  of  their  neighbors  to  leave  the  fort  as 

270 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

quietly  as  possible  and  make  their  escape. 
Under  cover  of  darkness  they  found  their  way 
to  the  river  shore,  where  a  boat  was  in  readi- 
ness. They  went  on  board  and  floated  down 
stream  with  the  current,  aided  by  a  pair  of  oars, 
and  the  next  night  reached  the  Nescopeck  Rap- 
ids, where  on  the  river's  bank  there  was  a  cabin. 
Some  of  the  members  of  the  party  proposed 
that  they  should  land  and  occupy  the  cabin  over 
night.  Others,  more  cautious,  advised  continu- 
ing the  journey  in  the  boat,  and  fortunately 
their  advice  prevailed.  A  boat  following  with 
its  occupants  landed,  the  boat  was  moored  and 
the  party  availed  themselves  of  the  cabin's 
shelter,  but,  sad  to  say,  every  one  of  them  was 
massacred  by  the  Indians  the  same  night.'  " 2 

It  is  a  strange  coincidence  that  the  opposing 
forces  were  both  led  by  Butlers,  who  are  said 
to  have  been  related.  Major  John  Butler,  who 
led  the  Tories  and  Indians,  was  from  Connecti- 
cut, while  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler,  a  Continental 
officer,  who  was  at  home  on  leave,  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  home  troops.  The  force  of 
the  enemy  was  considerably  underestimated 
when  Colonel  Butler  entered  the  engagement, 
and  although  he  did  everything  to  stem  the  tide 
of  disaster,  a  defeat  was  inevitable,  which  was 
followed  by  a  frightful  massacre  and  looting 
of  the  fort  by  the  Indians. 

3  "  Some  Early  Recollections,"  by  George  R.  Bedford. 
18  271 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Of  course,  the  British  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  massacre,  except  that  they  had  taken  into 
their  service  Indians,  whom  they  were  unable  to 
control  when  their  savage  instincts  were  ex- 
cited by  warfare  and  bloodshed,  although  Major 
Butler  is  said  to  have  done  everything  in  his 
power  to  restrain  them.  After  the  surrender, 
the  famous  Seneca  squaw,  Queen  Esther,  led  the 
Indians  into  the  fort  and  herself  presided  over 
the  fatal  ring. 

Several  efforts  have  been  made  to  exonerate 
the  savage  Queen  from  the  barbarities  attrib- 
uted to  her,  and  in  which  she  doubtless  gloried ; 
but  too  many  persons  living  near  the  scene  of 
the  massacre  have  testified  to  her  crimes.  Mrs. 
Perkins  gives  the  story  as  related  by  her  aged 
aunt,  Mrs.  Durkee:  "  Fifteen  or  sixteen  of  our 
men  who  had  been  taken  prisoners  by  the  In- 
dians, were  assembled  to  receive  their  death- 
blow by  the  hand  of  Queen  Esther,  a  large 
middle-aged  Seneca  squaw,  who  had  such  honors 
assigned  her. 

"In  this  case  it  was  thought  to  be  revenge 
for  the  death  of  her  son,  who  was  killed  by  the 
whites.  Some  of  the  prisoners  made  their  escape 
from  the  ring;  others  attempted  it,  but  were  un- 
successful. .  .  .  The  remaining  twelve  or 
more  were  murdered  with  the  tomahawk  by  the 
hand  of  this  savage  Queen  on  the  *  Bloody  Rock,' 
which  may  still  be  seen. " 

272 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

An  interesting  and  less  horrible  story  of 
Indian  capture  is  that  of  Prances  Slocum  as  told 
by  Mrs.  John  C.  Phelps:  "Four  months  after 
the  battle  of  Wyoming,  on  the  2d  of  November, 
1778,  Frances  Slocum,  a  little  girl  of  five  years, 
was  stolen  by  the  Indians,  never  to  be  seen  again 
by  her  mother  and  not  by  her  brothers  and  sis- 
ters until  she  was  a  woman  sixty-four  years 
of  age.  About  forty  days  after  her  abduc- 
tion, Isaac  Tripp,  her  grandfather,  and  Jona- 
than Slocum,  her  father,  were  speared,  toma- 
hawked and  scalped  by  the  savages.  They  were 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  had 
been  unmolested  by  the  Indians  until  Mr.  Slo- 
cum 's  eldest  son,  Giles,  a  boy  of  seventeen  years, 
had  joined  the  band  of  patriots  on  the  mem- 
orable 3d  of  July ;  then  the  family  seem  to  have 
been  a  shining  mark  for  Indian  vengeance/' 

The  sequel  to  this  story  is  interesting,  as 
told  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Meginness,  and  reveals  a  more 
favorable  side  of  Indian  character  than  those 
which  we  are  wont  to  hear.  About  six  years 
after  the  massacre,  "in  1784,  two  of  Frances' 
brothers  made  a  journey  north  to  search  for 
her.  One  hundred  guineas  were  offered  for  her, 
but  she  was  not  found.  Again  in  1788  the 
brothers  visited  the  Indian  country.  Mrs. 
Slocum  lived  for  twenty-nine  years  after  her 
child  was  stolen.  It  was  nearly  sixty  years 
after  when  news  was  received  that  the  white 

273 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

wife  of  an  Indian  in  a  western  state  was  sus- 
pected to  be  Frances.  It  was  Colonel  George 
W.  Ewing,  an  Indian  trader  of  Logansport,  In- 
diana, who  noticed  the  white  woman.  He  wrote 
to  the  Lancaster  postmaster  all  the  facts  he 
could  discover  about  her.  This  letter  fell  into 
the  hands  of  John  W.  Forney,  who  published  it 
in  his  paper,  the  Intelligencer.  So  it  came  to  the 
Slocum  family,  who  communicated  with  Colonel 
Ewing.  Upon  receiving  further  details  two 
brothers  and  a  sister,  Mrs.  Towne,  journeyed 
to  the  Indians  to  verify  the  story.  Accom- 
panied by  interpreters,  they  visited  the  Miami 
village  and  met  the  Chief.  Then  on  to  Deaf 
Man's  Village,  where  the  captive  woman  resided 
with  her  two  daughters.  Being  assured  that  it 
was  really  Frances,  they  persuaded  her  and  her 
family  to  go  back  to  the  town  with  them,  and 
after  spending  a  night  there  and  hearing  all 
that  the  woman  could  tell  of  her  capture,  she 
accepted  them  as  relatives  and  presented  them 
with  a  piece  of  fresh  venison  as  a  proof  of 
friendliness.  Frances  said  that  she  had  always 
been  treated  well  by  the  Indians.  She  had  first 
married  a  Delaware  and  after  he  left  her  she 
married  a  Miami,  'a  chief  and  a  deaf  man.' 
She  refused  to  go  back  with  her  family  to 
civilization,  saying,  'I  cannot,  I  cannot,  I  am  an 
old  tree.  I  was  a  sapling  when  they  took  me 
away.  I  am  happy  here.  I  shall  die  here  and 

274 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

lie  in  that  graveyard  and  they  will  raise  the 
pole  at  my  grave  with  the  white  flag  on  it,  and 
the  Great  Spirit  will  know  where  to  find  me."  3 

There  is  a  romantic  tradition  as  to  the  sec- 
ond marriage  of  Frances  to  a  Miami.  "  While 
her  foster  parents  were  floating  down  a  river  in 
a  canoe  in  central  Ohio,  she  was  riding  a  horse 
on  the  shore  and  discovered  an  Indian  lying  in 
the  path  wounded.  She  dismounted  and  dressed 
his  wounds,  and  her  parents  took  him  with  them 
and  cared  for  him  till  he  was  well.  After  that 
he  supplied  them  with  game  for  a  time  and  then 
proposed  going  away.  They  were  opposed  to 
this  and  finally  offered  to  give  him  their  daugh- 
ter in  marriage  if  he  would  remain.  He  con- 
sented and  the  union  proved  a  happy  one. 

"Two  years  after  their  first  visit,  Joseph 
Slocum  again  went  to  see  his  sister,  taking  his 
two  daughters  along.  Frances  expressed  joy 
at  seeing  her  brother  again.  She  was  accounted 
a  rich  womani  among  her  tribe,  owning  "three 
hundred  Indian  ponies,  and  cattle,  hogs  and 
chickens  in  large  numbers." 

We  can  readily  imagine  thrilling  tales  of 
these  days  of  storm  and  stress  in  the  beautiful 
valley  of  the  Wyoming  being  told  by  father  to 
son  and  grandparents  to  grandchildren  by  many 
a  fireside  in  Wilkes-Barre  and  Plymouth.  In- 
deed, we  had  heard  some  of  these  stories  our- 

8  "  Frances  Slocum,  The  Lost  Sister  of  Wyoming,"  by  John 
F.  Meginness. 

276 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

selves,  while  we  were  spending  some  weeks  at 
Bear  Lake,  a  favorite  resort  of  some  of  the  old 
Wilkes-Barre  families,  the  incident  of  Sulli- 
van's expedition  being  dwelt  upon,  at  length,  by 
a  distinguished  jurist  in  our  party.  These 
stories  were  recalled  to  us  by  some  references 
that  we  found  to  the  unveiling  of  a  boulder  at 
Laurel  Kun,  on  which  a  tablet  was  placed  to 
honor  the  memory  of  Captain  Joseph  Davis  and 
Lieutenant  William  Jones  of  the  advance  guard 
of  General  Sullivan's  forces.  In  writing  of 
this  casualty  one  of  the  company  said : 

"  Getting  within  two  miles  of  Wyoming,  we 
had,  from  a  fine  eminence,  an  excellent  view  of 
the  settlement.  ...  It  lies  in  a  beautiful 
valley,  surrounded  by  very  high  ground;  the 
people  inhabit  up  and  down  the  banks  of  the 
river  and  very  little  back.  There  were  in  this 
settlement,  last  summer,  a  court  house,  a  jail 
and  many  dwelling  houses,  all  of  which,  except- 
ing a  few  scattered  ones,  were  burnt  by  the  sav- 
ages after  the  battle  of  July  3, 1778,  which  took 
place  near  Forty  Fort.  At  present  there  are  a 
few  log  houses,  newly  built,  a  fort,  one  or  two 
stockade  redoubts,  and  a  row  of  barracks;  the 
settlement  consists  of  six  or  more  small  town- 
ships. At  the  battle  before  spoken  of,  about 
two  hundred  and  twenty  men  were  massacred 
within  the  space  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  more  than 
a  hundred  of  whom  were  married  men;  their 
widows  afterward  had  all  their  property  taken 

276 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

from  them,  and  several  of  them  with  their  chil- 
dren were  made  prisoners.  It  is  said  Queen 
Esther  of  the  Six  Nations,  who  was  with  the 
enemy,  scalped  and  tomahawked  with  her  hands, 
in  cold  blood,  eight  or  ten  persons.  The  Indian 
women  in  general  were  guilty  of  the  greatest 
barbarities.  Since  this  dreadful  stroke,  they 
have  visited  the  settlement  several  times,  each 
time  killing,  or  rather  torturing  to  death,  more 
or  less.  Many  of  their  bones  continue  yet  un- 
buried  where  the  main  action  happened.  .  .  . 

"Thursday,  June  24th. — Was  introduced  to 
Colonel  Zebulon  Butler,  the  gentleman  of  whom 
much  has  been  said  on  account  of  his  persevering 
conduct  in  opposing  the  savages. " 

We  saw  pictures  of  a  number  of  old  Wilkes- 
Barre  houses,  among  them  that  of  Colonel 
Zebulon  Butler,  which  he  built  about  1787  at  the 
corner  of  Northampton  and  River  Streets.  Here 
he  lived  for  many  years  honored  and  esteemed 
by  the  community  that  he  served.  The  old  house 
was  removed  in  1867,  and  its  site  occupied  by 
the  residence  of  Colonel  Butler's  great-grand- 
daughter, Mrs.  Stanley  Woodward.  In  this 
house,  the  first  court  of  Luzerne  County  met, 
and  from  its  session  Timothy  Pickering  took  his 
four  days'  journey  to  Philadelphia  to  make  a 
formal  return  of  the  election  to  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  of  the  State.  By  this  elec- 
tion Matthias  Hollenbach,  William  H.  Smith, 

277 


\ 
IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Benjamin  Carpenter  and  James  Nesbit  were 
chosen  " Justices  to  keep  the  peace."  Colonel 
Pickering's  house,  built  about  the  same  time 
as  Colonel  Butler's,  is  still  standing.  From  this 
house  he  was  abducted  by  a  band  of  political  and 
personal  opponents  and  kept  a  prisoner  for  two 
weeks,  a  proceeding  that  for  lawlessness  is  only 
equalled  in  these  days  by  the  abduction  of  the 
best  football  player  by  some  of  the  opposing 
team  just  before  a  critical  game. 

Colonel  Pickering's  house  was  afterwards 
bought  by  General  William  Boss,  and  he  and  his 
son  both  lived  here  to  the  end  of  their  days. 

When  Luzerne  County  was  organized  it  was 
named  after  Caesar  Anne  de  la  Luzerne,  minister 
from  France  to  the  United  States  from  1779  to 
1783,  in  grateful  acknowledgment  of  his  services 
to  the  Colonists. 

This  county  then  included  Lackawanna, 
Wyoming,  Susquehanna  and  Bradford  Counties. 

We  were  shown  many  interesting  collections 
at  the  Historical  Society,  some  among  them  as- 
sociated with  George  Catlin,  the  artist,  who  was 
born  in  Wilkes-Barre.  Catlin  was  the  son  of 
Putnam  Catlin,  one  of  the  four  attorneys  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  on  the  organization  of  the 
county  in  1787.  George  Catlin  was  himself  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  but  soon  abandoned  the  law 
to  lead  the  life  of  an  artist.  He  painted  the 
portraits  of  a  number  of  distinguished  persons, 

278 


THE  PICKERING-ROSS  HOUSE,  SOUTH  MAIN  STREET,  WILKES-BARRE' 


HOME  OF  COLONEL  ZEBULON  BUTLER,  WILKES-BARRE' 


SUNBUBY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 

among  these  the  well-known  portrait  of  Dolly 
Madison  in  a  turban  and  of  Governor  De  Witt 
Clinton.  Although  successful  in  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, and  after  completing  a  large  canvas  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Virginia,  while 
it  was  in  session  at  Richmond,  in  which  there  are 
portraits  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  of  its  most 
distinguished  members,  Catlin's  interest  cen- 
tered in  Indian  portraiture.  He  had  already 
painted  Red  Jacket  and  Black  Hawk,  when 
these  chiefs  were  in  Washington,  and  in  1832 
he  went  among,  and  for  some  eight  years  re- 
mained among,  the  Indian  tribes  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  where  no  white  man  had  pre- 
ceded him.  He  painted  the  portraits  of  nearly 
five  hundred  Indians  and  thus  created  an  Indian 
portrait  gallery,  which  he  later  exhibited  in 
London  and  in  Paris  and,  in  fact,  in  all  the  lead- 
ing capitals  of  Europe,  where  his  gallery  excited 
great  interest  and  attention. 

"He  related  that  on  one  occasion  when  ex- 
hibiting in  Egyptian  Hall,  London,  and  the  room 
was  well  filled  with  the  nobility  of  England,  his 
gallery  was  visited  by  a  company  of  Ojibway 
Indians,  whom  another  enterprising  American 
had  taken  abroad  for  purposes  of  exhibition. 
Many  of  them  were  known  to  Catlin  personally, 
he  having  spent  considerable  time  in  their  tribe. 
When  they  arrived  at  Egyptian  Hall,  arrayed 
in  their  native  costume,  they  greeted  Catlin 

279 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

most  effusively  as  an  old  friend,  and  when  they 
discovered  among  the  pictures  the  portrait  of 
their  chief,  who  was  of  the  party,  they  gave  the 
Indian  whoop  and  joined  in  an  Indian  dance. 
The  excitement,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  was 
intense  and  communicated  itself  to  the  English 
visitors.  It  proved  a  great  advertisement  for 
Catlin  and  removed  any  possible  doubt  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  portraits."  4 

A  popular  saying  about  Wilkes-Barre  has 
been  that  its  citizens  woke  up  one  day  to  find 
their  wealth  under  their  houses.  This  may  not 
be  literally  true,  but  certainly  rich  deposits  of 
coal  were  found  near  the  homes  of  many  of  the 
citizens  of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  also  at  Plymouth, 
where  there  were  fine  old  residences,  such  as 
that  of  the  Eeynolds  family,  situated  a  half  mile 
from  the  Susquehanna  and  just  back  of  the  pres- 
ent location  of  a  great  breaker.  At  one  time 
it  was  considered  quite  an  achievement  to  mine 
and  ship  to  market  "in  a  single  year  fifteen 
thousand  tons  of  coal — not  the  equivalent  of  the 
output  for  ten  days  of  any  one  of  a  number  of 
collieries  of  the  present  day.  The  money  value 
of  the  coal  shipped  from  the  Wyoming  Valley 
for  a  number  of  years  past  is  the  equivalent  of 
more  than  fifty  million  dollars  per  year,  all  pro- 
duced from  a  territory  three  miles  by  twenty 
miles  in  extent." 

* "  Some  Early  Recollections,"  by  George  R.  Bedford. 
280 


SUNBURY  AND  WILKES-BARRE 


The  Reynolds  house  at  Plymouth  once  com- 
manded a  fine  view  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
valley  with  its  rich  farming  lands,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  views  of  the  Wyoming  Valley, 
now  much  obstructed  by  breakers  and  culm 
banks.  At  Plymouth,  as  in  many  of  these  min- 
ing towns,  we  were  reminded  of  Katharine 
Mayors  description  of  just  such  scenes  as  we 
saw  before  us:  " There,  on  the  high  skyline 
above  the  mountains,  for  mile  on  mile,  the  bold 
silhouettes  of  the  breakers  cut  the  sky.  Peaks 
of  coal  refuse,  absolutely  conical,  black  as  night, 
enormous — like  unspent  volcanoes  or  a  wizard's 
dream — rise  preposterous  against  the  clouds. 
Strappings,  sharp  and  raw  as  Culebra  Cut,  slash 
big  scars  of  yellow  across  the  plane.  And  every- 
where between,  like  the  remnants  of  an  exquisite 
verdant  tapestry  rent  by  swords  and  blown  to 
bits  by  guns,  lie  the  tattered  remnants  of  the 
beauty  of  the  world. " 

6  *  Coal  mines  certainly  do  not  add  to  the 
beauty  of  a  landscape, "  said  Sarah;  "we  simply 
have  to  forget  all  about  the  charm  that  once 
belonged  to  this  place  and  think  only  of  the  bene- 
fit and  comfort  that  coal  has  brought  to 
the  world. " 

The  question  as  to  who  first  used  anthracite 
coal  has  never  been  satisfactorily  settled.  Judge 
Jesse  Fell,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  used  coal  success- 
fully in  his  grate  as  early  as  1808.  This  may 

281 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

have  been  the  first  successful  attempt  to  use 
coal  for  domestic  purposes;  though  it  has  been 
claimed  by  Dr.  Thomas  C.  James,  of  Philadel- 
phia, that  he  used  anthracite  coal  in  his  house  in 
1804 ;  but  he  did  not  say  whether  he  burned  it  in 
a  stove  or  a  grate.  Like  a  great  many  other 
discoveries  that  have  been  of  benefit  to  the 
world,  the  use  of  coal  was  probably  found  by  sev- 
eral persons  and  in  different  places  about  the 
same  time. 

One  afternoon  we  went  out  to  see  the  monu- 
ment erected  in  memory  of  those  who  fell  in  bat- 
tle in  1778,  or  were  slain  by  the  savages  after 
the  defeat  of  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler's  troops. 
The  inscription  on  this  monument,  which  was 
composed  by  Edward  GL  Mallery,  is  beauti- 
fully worded  and  tells  the  story,  the  pathetic 
story,  of  the  great  tragedy  in  a  few  lines. 

Our  last  afternoon  in  Wilkes-Barre  we  spent 
near  Dorranceton,  where  we  were  invited  to  see 
the  wonderful  rose  farm  of  the  Dorrance  family, 
acres  in  roses  of  the  most  exquisite  varieties. 
After  enjoying  the  beauty  and  fragrance  of  the 
flowers  and  the  charming  hospitality  of  our 
hosts,  we  returned  to  Wilkes-Barre  by  the  light 
of  the  moon,  and  with  our  hands  full  of  roses. 
So  our  last  associations  with  this  town,  whose 
early  history  was  so  tragic,  were  of  moonlight, 
flowers  and  of  music  also,  as  one  of  the  local 
choral  societies  was  singing  gaily  when  we 
reached  our  hotel. 


XIV 
A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

AT  the  hotel  in  Scranton  we  found  Kathleen 
waiting  to  greet  us  and  to  rejoice  in  the  roses 
we  brought  her  from  the  Dorrance  farm,  which 
were  still  fresh  and  beautiful. 

Lodged  here  in  a  comfortable  hotel  in  this 
handsome,  prosperous  city,  it  seemed  almost  in- 
credible that  this  place,  once  called  Slocum's 
Hollow,  was  of  so  little  importance  sixty  years 
ago  that  it  was  not  considered  worth  while  for 
the  stage  from  Carbondale  to  Wilkes-Barre 
to  stop  here.  The  inhabitants  of  Slocum's 
Hollow  were  obliged  to  board  their  stage  at 
Hyde  Park,  and  now  Scranton  is  the  third  city 
in  Pennsylvania. 

Kathleen  was  quite  ready  to  fall  in  with  our 
plan  to  visit  Asylum,  stipulating,  however,  that 
we  should  make  a  circular  tour  by  Dundaff  and 
Crystal  Lake,  which  she  wished  very  much 
to  see. 

' '  And  that  route, ' '  said  Sarah,  consulting  her 
map,  "will  take  us  by  Montrose,  which  is  said 
to  be  one  of  the  prettiest  towns  in  the  state." 

Scranton,  handsome  city  as  it  is,  was  quite 
too  modern  for  us,  and  we  set  forth  the  next 
morning  for  Carbondale,  a  much  older  town  than 
Scranton,  and,  like  the  latter,  a  place  which  has 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

grown  rapidly.  When  John  Wurts  came  here 
to  make  his  early  explorations  after  coal,  Car- 
bondale is  said  to  have  contained  only  one  log 
cabin,  which  was  built  to  shelter  him.  A  thriv- 
ing town  is  the  Carbondale  of  to-day,  and  with  a 
certain  picturesqueness  where  the  Fall  Brook 
flows  under  its  bridges,  and  the  culm  banks  are 
not  too  near. 

The  drive  from  Carbondale  to  Crystal  Lake 
is  through  a  gently  rolling  country,  by  brown 
mountain  streams,  with  mountains  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  nearer,  over  toward  Montrose,  Elk 
Hill  throws  up  two  shapely  peaks  against 
the  horizon. 

1  '  This  is  the  kind  of  country  that  I  like, ' '  ex- 
claimed Kathleen,  "wild  and  far  off  from  civil- 
ized places.  I  can  really  imagine  Indians  in 
those  woods,  they  are  so  thick  and  dark. ' ' 

'  '  If  you  had  heard  as  much  as  we  have  about 
Indians  in  these  last  days  in  Wilkes-Barre  you 
wouldn't  be  so  keen  about  imagining  them  lurk- 
ing anywhere  near,"  said  Sarah.  "We  have 
heard  thrilling  tales,  especially  about  Queen 
Esther,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  when  we 
get  up  near  Asylum  and  Athens." 

"You  really  must  tell  me  those  wonderful 
tales,  Sarah;  you  know  I  love  blood-curdling 
stories. ' ' 

"You'll  hear  enough  of  them,  if  we  meet  any 
old  inhabitants  of  Bradford  County." 

284 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

"  Which  comes  first,  Crystal  Lake  or  Dun- 
dafff  "  asked  Kathleen. 

1  '  Crystal  Lake  comes  first, ' '  I  said,  as  I  knew 
this  region  well,  and  then  to  my  surprise,  Crad- 
dock,  Kathleen's  new  chauffeur,  pointed  over 
toward  a  mountain  whose  top  stood  out  clear 
and  beautiful  against  the  blue  of  the  sky,  and 
said,  "Many  a  time  I've  slept  on  the  top  of 
old  Elk/' 

"Oh!"  I  exclaimed,  "you  know  this 
country?" 

"Ye&'m,  like  a  book.  I  was  born  over  near 
Honesdale,  the  place  they  say  the  first  locomotive 
started  from ;  but  from  what  I  Ve  heard,  the  first 
locomotive  must  have  started  from  several 
places.  Yes  'm,  I  've  hunted  all  over  this  country 
with  the  gentlemen  that  used  to  come  up  here 
after  quail  and  pheasants  in  the  fall.  They  don't 
come  any  more,  and  the  city  folks  used  to  come 
in  the  summer  to  the  Villa  and  to  Fern  Hall. 
It's  curious  they  don't  put  up  a  big  house  some- 
where about  here;  it's  high,  about  two  thousand 
feet,  and  fine  air.  Here's  Crystal  Lake; 
you  can't  find  anything  prettier  than  that  any- 
where. They  used  to  run  a  little  steamboat 
here ;  but  that  was  before  my  time. ' ' 

A  beautiful  lake  it  is,  a  great  sheet  of  water 
nearly  a  mile  wide,  shining  like  silver  in  the  sun, 
framed  in  by  well-wooded  shores,  and  having  a 
background  of  distant  blue  mountains.  On  the 

285 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

bluff  above  the  lake  a  few  cottages  and  bunga- 
lows are  beautifully  situated,  commanding  a 
view  of  the  lake  and  the  mountains  beyond. 

" Whose  is  that  fine  large  stone  house?"  I 
asked.  ' '  It  has  been  built  since  I  was  here. ' ' 

"Oh,  that's  Mr.  Johnson's  new  house,  Fern 
Hall  used  to  stand  there.  The  Johnsons  have 
owned  property  here  for  years ;  and  over  there, 
right  out  on  the  lake,  is  the  old  Jones  house. 
They've  built  a  big  new  house  on  the  farm  just 
outside  of  Dundaff." 

On  a  hillside  by  one  of  the  bungalows  we 
were  attracted  by  a  garden  of  exquisite  beauty, 
with  arbors  and  arches  and  a  sun-dial,  all  glori- 
fied by  every  brilliant  blossom  that  lifts  its  head 
to  the  sun  in  July.  I  suddenly  remembered  that 
I  once  wandered  through  this  lovely  garden  with 
its  owner,  and  had  come  away  with  my  hands 
full  of  flowers.  Seeing  her  now,  the  most  enthu- 
siastic of  gardeners,  at  work  among  her  roses, 
I  waved  my  hand  to  her.  She  recognized  me, 
begged  us  to  stop  and  see  her  garden,  and  so 
for  a  delightful  hour  we  were  in  a  land  of 
enchantment. 

As  we  motored  through  the  village  of  Dun- 
daff,  we  were  told  by  our  informing  chauffeur 
that  it  had  been  quite  a  place  in  its  day ;  that  they 
published  a  paper  here  in  1820 ;  that  there  were 
several  shops,  and  that  Colonel  Phinny  had  a 
grist  mill,  saw  mill,  wagon  shop  and  a  bank  here. 

286 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

"His  home  was  in  that  house,"  said  Crad- 
dock,  pointing1  to  a  fine  old-fashioned  house  with 
columns  in  front  and  a  balcony  above. 

The  little  town  must  have  entertained  great 
expectations  of  wealth  and  importance  when 
coal  wa,s  discovered  at  Carbondale  and  Forest 
City;  but  the  coal  deposits  stopped  somewhere 
between  Carbondale  and  Crystal  Lake,  and  since 
then  Dundaff  has  remained  very  much  in  status 
quo,  happier  perhaps  and  certainly  prettier  than 
if  it  had  become  a  mining  town  like  Forest  City ; 
but  old  residents  still  recall  with  pride  the  fact 
that  their  town  came  within  three  or  four  votes 
of  being  made  the  county  seat. 

My  friend,  who  has  a  farm  near  Dundaff,  had 
often  told  me  that  her  grandfather,  Mr.  Peter 
Graham,  a  Scotchman,  came  here  early  in  the 
century  with  Mr.  Redmond  Conyngham  from 
Wilkes-Barre,  and  was  so  charmed  with  this 
mountain  and  lake  country  that  he  bought  a 
large  tract  of  land.  Mr.  Conyngham  afterwards 
laid  out  the  village  and  named  it  Dundaff  at  the 
suggestion  of  his  friend,  Peter  Graham,  in  honor 
of  Dundaff  Castle,  the  home  of  "William  the 
Graham. "  Mr.  Conyngham  also  bought  land 
here  and  had  a  cellar  and  well  dug,  but  does  not 
seem  to  have  built  a  house.  Mr.  Graham,  how- 
ever, made  this  his  summer  home  for  many 
years,  having  owned  two  places  near  Dundaff, 
one  called  Moskesson  and  the  other  the  Grange. 

19  287 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

These  farms  are  both  owned  by  Mr.  Graham's 
grandchildren,  a  rather  unusual  circumstance  in 
this  country  of  constant  change.  We  stopped  at 
the  Grange,  a  fine  old  place  with  a  gently  slop- 
ing lawn  full  of  beautiful  trees,  most  of  them 
planted  by  Howard  Spencer,  Esq.,  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  owned  and  improved  this  estate  of  six 
hundred  acres.  My  friend  was  away,  to  our 
great  regret,  and  not  being  able  to  enjoy  her 
hospitality,  we  turned  our  faces  toward  Mont- 
rose,  driving  for  some  distance  through  the 
Grange  woods. 

We  were  tempted  to  make  a  detour 
to  see  Pleasant  Mount,  a  pretty  village,  quite 
near  Belmont,  the  home  of  General  Meredith; 
but  Craddock  warned  us  that  it  was  now 
twelve  o'clock,  and  there  lay  thirty  miles 
between  Dundaff  and  Montrose,  and  not  all  of 
it  over  the  best  roads,  so  we  concluded  to  leave 
Pleasant  Mount  for  another  day.  I  had  motored 
there  from  Dundaff  several  years  ago  and  had 
seen  the  monument  erected  on  the  village  green 
in  honor  of  Samuel  Meredith,  who,  after  serving 
under  Washington  at  Brandywine,  Germantown 
and  Princeton,  upon  the  organization  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  was  appointed  Treasurer  of 
the  United  States.  A  letter  from  Alexander 
Hamilton,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  still 
preserved  in  the  Meredith  family,  shows  how 
much  he  appreciated  the  cooperation  of  General 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

Meredith.  After  his  retirement  from  office  he 
and  his  family  came  to  live  at  Belmont,  and  the 
Meredith  family  were  long  associated  with 
this  region. 

Our  way  lay  through  Glenwood,  which  Crad- 
dock  told  us  with  some  pride,  was  for  years  the 
home  of  Galusha  A.  Grow,  who  came  here  from 
Connecticut.  Sarah,  of  course,  remembered  that 
he  had  represented  Pennsylvania  in  Congress 
for  several  terms,  had  been  Speaker  of  the 
House,  and  strenuously  opposed  the  introduction 
of  slavery  into  the  territories.  We  passed 
through  Hop  Bottom,  as  this  is  a  great  hop  coun- 
try, and  across  Tunkhannock  Creek,  and  so  on 
to  Montrose,  which  we  could  see  some  time  be- 
fore we  reached  it,  as  it  is  a  town  set  on  a  hill. 
And  here  in  Montrose  we  have  found  an  ideal 
village,  with  comfortable  old-fashioned  homes, 
many  of  them  frame  houses  painted  white,  soft 
embowered  in  trees,  the  great  sugar  maples  that 
belong  to  this  part  of  Pennsylvania  being 
largely  in  evidence. 

The  town  owes  its  pretty  name  to  the  Eose 
family,  who  came  to  this  region  many  years  ago, 
first  settling  at  Silver  Lake,  ten  miles  from 
here.  We  find  our  surroundings  so  attractive 
that  we  have  concluded  to  remain  for  several 
days.  Kathleen  and  I  would  gladly  stay  for  a 
week  in  the  comfortable  homelike  house  in  which 
we  are  stopping;  but  Sarah  has  set  her  heart 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

upon  getting  to  Asylum,  her  Carcasonne,  and 
then  our  time  is  limited,  as  we  all  have  engage- 
ments later  in  the  month.  Sarah  should  be  con- 
tent to  stay  on  indefinitely,  as  her  neighbor  at 
table  has  antiquarian  tastes  and  pours  valuable 
information  into  her  willing  ears.  This  gentle- 
man 's  grandfather  lived  near  Asylum  and  he  re- 
membered many  things  that  his  father  had  told 
him  about  the  settlement  there  and  the  laying 
out  of  the  town,  which  he  says  was  really  in- 
tended as  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  royal  family 
and  the  nobility  at  the  time  of  the  French  Kevo- 
lution,  and  arrangements  were  in  progress  to 
have  the  King  and  Queen  escape  from  France 
and  come  to  Asylum.  A  house  being  built  far 
back  in  the  woods  was  called  the  Queen's  house. 
Of  course,  the  plans  to  bring  the  King  and  Queen 
to  the  United  States  seem  to  us  now  like  fairy 
tales ;  but  theyfit  in  with  an  equally  f  ancifulstory 
about  the  crown  jewels  of  the  Bourbons  being 
buried  somewhere  in  Virginia.  All  plans  for  the 
escape  of  the  royal  family  were,  of  course, 
thwarted  by  the  arrest  of  Louis  and  Marie  An- 
toinette at  Varennes,  their  close  imprisonment 
in  the  Temple  and  their  subsequent  execution; 
but  there  may  have  been  those  who  dreamed  of 
such  a  possibility,  and  it  is  quite  certain  that  a 
number  of  the  French  nobility  settled  at  Asylum. 
We  found  an  interesting  little  book  that  tells  us 
all  about  the  place,  and  Kathleen  and  I  are  now 

290 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

almost  as  eager  as  Sarah  to  see  it.  This  very 
informing  gentleman  has  been  telling  us  about 
Montrose  also,  and  pointing  out  old  houses  to 
us,  some  of  them  with  lovely  doorways  and  al- 
luring porches,  deeply  shaded.  It  seems  that  a 
number  of  well-known  families  from  Philadel- 
phia and  other  places  settled  here  early  in  the 
last  century,  among  them  the  Biddies,  Drinkers, 
Posts,  Webbs,  Mulfords,  and  Jessups.  Some  of 
the  old  houses  have  been  altered  during  that 
unfortunate  period  in  the  last  century  when 
architects  failed  to  appreciate  the  dignity  and 
beauty  of  older  buildings. 

A  house  on  Church  street  that  attracted  us 
by  the  simplicity  of  its  architecture  and  some- 
thing about  its  porch  that  seemed  to  speak  of 
old-time  comfort  and  hospitality  was  built  in 
1818  by  Mr.  Silvanus  S.  Mulf  ord,  who  came  to 
Montrose  from  Long  Island.  This  house,  which 
has  been  changed  little  in  the  hundred  years  that 
have  passed  over  its  head,  has  an  interesting  his- 
tory of  its  own,  for  here  lived  the  Reverend 
Elisha  Mulf  ord,  who  wrote  The  Nation  and  The 
Republic  of  God,  books  widely  read  in  their  day. 
Another  writer  who  lived  in  this  house  for  sev- 
eral years  was  Miss  Emily  Blackman,  who 
compiled  a  voluminous  and  important  history  of 
Susquehanna  County.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
last  century  William  Jessup  brought  his  bride 
to  Montrose,  and  they  lived  for  some  time  with 

291 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

his  sister,  Mrs.  Mulford.  Mr.  Jessup  was  later 
an  influential  man  in  this  part  of  the  State,  and 
was  Judge  of  the  County  Court  in  the  fifties.  In 
1835  Mr.  Mulford  sold  his  house  to  Mr.  Jerre 
L.  Lyons,  who  came  to  Montrose  from  Colerain, 
Massachusetts,  with  four  brothers.  One  of  the 
brothers,  Lorenzo  Lyons,  was  a  missionary  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands  for  fifty-five  years.  A  son 
of  Mr.  Jerre  L.  Lyons,  of  the  same  name,  was  a 
missionary  in  Syria  for  some  years. 

The  Biddle  and  Drinker  families  lived  for 
years  in  Montrose.  Miss  Anna  Drinker  was  a 
poetess,  known  in  literature  as  Edith  May,  it 
being  the  fashion  in  her  day  for  women  writers 
to  modestly  conceal  their  identity  under  a  nom 
de  plume. 

Among  its  other  attractions  Montrose  has  a 
delightful  library  on  the  wide  village  green  op- 
posite the  Court  House.  We  could  spend  many 
pleasant  and  profitable  hours  in  this  building,  as 
there  are  valuable  books  of  reference  here  as 
well  as  lighter  literature.  This  library  was 
founded  by  Miss  Clementine  Cope,  a  German- 
town  woman,  who  spent  some  summers  in  Mont- 
rose years  ago,  and  whose  country  home  stands 
on  the  road  to  Dimock.  Being  one  of  the  wise 
ones  of  the  earth,  she  realized  that  no  com- 
munity of  young  people  can  be  expected  to  grow 
up  into  intelligent  citizenship  without  having 
access  to  good  books. 

292 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

Even  with  all  the  allurements  that  this 
charming  village  offered,  we  resolutely  turned 
our  backs  upon  it  and  set  forth  for  Asylum. 
Craddock,  who  unlike  men  in  general  and  chauf- 
feurs in  particular,  does  not  object  to  asking 
questions,  has  been  told  that  the  best  road  is  by 
Rush,  a  town  which  seems  to  have  been  named 
after  a  distinguished  jurist  in  this  region,  and 
then  on  by  Wyalusing  and  Wysox.  We  had  the 
address  of  a  hotel  or  inn  in  Asylum,  and  of  an- 
other in  Towanda;  but  as  both  of  these  places 
were  unexplored  regions  to  us,  we  left  Montrose 
very  early  in  order  to  have  some  hours  of  day- 
light in  which  to  find  accommodations  for  the 
night.  After  further  inquiries  at  Wysox  we  con- 
cluded to  motor  on  to  Towanda,  and  in  this  case 
"wisdom  was  justified  of  her  children, "  as  we 
found  a  comfortable  stopping  place  in  this  town, 
which  is  a  place  of  some  importance,  being  the 
county  seat. 

We  motored  over  to  Asylum  the  next  day, 
and  found  it  much  as  it  had  been  described  to 
us  and  well  situated  in  a  lovely  bend  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna.  The  township  of  Asylum  lies  be- 
tween those  of  Towanda  and  Montrose,  the  river 
forming  the  boundary  on  the  north  and  east, 
between  it  and  the  townships  of  Wysox,  Stand- 
ing Stone  and  Wyalusing.  The  growing  Ameri- 
can town  has  pushed  the  early  French  settlement 
into  the  background ;  but  its  traditions  are  still 

293 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

a  part  of  the  life  of  the  place.    The  colony  at 
Asylum  is  said  to  have  been  organized  by  the 
Viscount  Louis  de  Noailles  and  another  French 
nobleman,  two  wealthy  Frenchmen,  driven  to 
this  country  by  the  upheaval  in  Europe.    These 
gentlemen  purchased  an  immense  tract  of  land  in 
what  is  now  Bradford  County,  and  established 
on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  just  below  the 
broad,  low  plateau  occupied  by  the  halfbreeds, 
a  colony  of  Frenchmen,  and  called  the  place 
6 1  Azylum. ' '  It  has  come  to  be  known  as  French- 
town  to  succeeding  generations.    Many  of  the 
refugees  who  came  here  belonged  to  the  nobility, 
and  to  people  of  luxurious  habits  pioneer  life  in 
log  cabins  was  naturally  hard,  and  to  add  to 
their  discomfort,  most  of  the  servants  whom 
they  brought  over  deserted  them.      As  these 
emigresweie  helpless  people,  who  could  not  cook, 
and  were  even  unaccustomed  to  dress  them- 
selves, their  case  was  far  from  ideal.   The  annals 
relate  that  they  were  also  often  in  danger  on 
account  of  the  people  of  "The  Tribe "  living  on 
the  neighboring  hills .   When  Napoleon  came  into 
power  he  sent  for  them  all  to  return,  and  most 
of  them  gladly  deserted  their  cabins  among  the 
giant  trees  and  went  back  to  sunny  France. 
Others  were  scattered  through  this  region,  only 
a  few  families  remaining  in  Asylum.     Of  the 
descendants  of  those  who  remained,  some  are 
still  to  be  found  here.      Batholomew  la  Porte 

294 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

was  one  of  those  who  stayed  on  in  Asylum,  and 
we  find  his  name  perpetuated  in  the  town  of  La 
Porte  in  Sullivan  County.  Judge  La  Porte,  a 
son  of  the  first  settler,  according  to  Mrs.  Perkins, 
was  born  at  Asylum  in  1798,  where  he  lived  and 
cultivated  one  of  the  most  extensive  farms  in  the 
country.  He  served  five  years  in  the  Legisla- 
ture, being  elected  Speaker  during  the  last  ses- 
sion of  his  service.1 

Another  French  settler  who  remained  in 
Bradford,  then  Luzerne  County,  was  Charles 
Hornet,  who  came  to  the  United  States  in  1793, 
and  to  Asylum  three  years  later,  where  he  lived 
to  the  end  of  his  days.  The  name  Hornet  was 
given  to  a  ferry  a  few  miles  south  of  Asylum. 

General  Durell  was  one  of  the  well-known 
exiles,  and  we  passed  through  a  town  north  of 
Asylum  which  bears  his  name.  Other  names  still 
to  be  found  here  are  Le  Fevre,  Prevost  and 
D'Autremont.  Mr.  J.  M.  Piolette  settled  at 
Wysox  and  Mr.  Delpeuch,  Mr.  Peuch  and  others 
near  Towanda. 

Now  that  she  is  dead  and  can  do  no  harm, 
Queen  Esther  is  one  of  the  cherished  memories 
of  this  region;  indeed,  her  claims  bid  fair  to 
rival  in  interest  those  of  the  French  settlers. 
Traditions  about  her,  so  often  repeated  that  they 
have  become  history,  true  or  false,  are  something 

1 "  Early  Times  on  the  Susquehanna,"  by  Mrs.  George  A. 
Perkins. 

295 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  an  asset  here,  as  they  seem  to  bring  curious 
visitors  to  this  region.  The  older  inhabitants 
love  to  talk  about  her.  Sarah  has  encountered 
several  of  them,  as  she  always  does !  they  seem 
to  come  to  her  without  any  apparent  effort  on 
her  part,  drawn  to  her  by  natural  attraction  as 
the  magnet  draws  the  needle.  Kathleen  and  I 
stand  beside  her  and  listen  to  all  that  she  draws 
forth.  According  to  these  people,  the  savage 
queen  was  a  tall  stately  woman,  very  beautiful 
and  a  rather  pleasant  person  in  everyday  life, 
when  the  lust  for  blood  was  not  urging  her  on  to 
deeds  of  horror.  And  Mrs.  Perkins  gives  the 
same  impression  gathered  from  the  personal 
recollections  of  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Durkee.  "  After 
the  war  closed,  she  (Queen  Esther)  was  often 
passing  from  Tioga  to  Onondaga,  unprotected. 
One  time  while  Mrs.  Durkee  was  residing  in 
Scipio,  N.  Y.,  she  came  to  her  house  on  her  way 
to  Onondaga,  with  a  sister  who  was  much  intoxi- 
cated, carrying  a  papoose  on  her  back,  and  in- 
quired in  broken  English  if  she  could  stay  there 
through  the  night  and  sleep  on  the  kitchen  floor. 
Mrs.  Durkee  being  well  acquainted  with  her,  she 
was  permitted  to  stay  until  morning  and  then 
went  on  her  way.  If,  as  some  suppose,  the  In- 
dians have  descended  from  the  lost  tribes  of 
Israel,  her  name  might  be  thus  accounted  for ; 
or,  what  is  more  probable,  she  might  have  de- 
rived it  from  the  Moravian  missionaries,  who 

296 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

had  many  stations  among  them  and  whose  names 
they  often  adopted.  She  married  Tom  Hill,  an 
Indian  as  forbidding  as  herself,  and  after  she 
left  Tioga  she  went  to  Onondaga  to  reside. "  2 

Mrs.  Perkins  says  that  there  was  no  founda- 
tion for  the  story  that  Queen  Esther  and  Cath- 
erine Montour  were  one  and  the  same.  It  is  now 
generally  believed  that  the  savage  Queen  was 
the  daughter  of  Andrew  Montour  and  his  Dela- 
ware Indian  wife,  which  would  make  her  the 
granddaughter  of  the  noted  Madame  Montour. 
Andrew  Montour  was  himself  the  oldest  son 
of  Eoland  Montour  and  Margaret  Frontenac,  the 
daughter  of  the  Count  de  Front enac,  Governor 
of  New  France,  by  a  Huron  squaw.  Margaret 
Frontenac  was  afterwards  known  all  over  the 
middle  colonies  as  Madame  Montour,  and  was, 
unlike  her  granddaughter,  friendly  to  the  whites. 

Esther  Montour  and  Mollie  Brant,  the  sister 
of  Joseph  Brant,  the  celebrated  Indian  chief  of 
the  Iroquois,  were  both  said  to  have  been  prime 
favorites  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  and  in  their 
youth  to  have  spent  much  of  their  time  at  his 
great  house  in  the  Mohawk  Valley.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  both  of  these  Indian  women  had  sons 
named  William  Johnson,  and  Queen  Esther's 
hatred  of  the  whites  became  an  uncontrollable 
fury  when  her  son  William  was  slain  at  Wyom- 

a "  Early  Days  on  the  Susquehanna,"  by  Mrs.  George  A. 
Perkins. 

297 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

ing,  and  in  the  concluding  part  of  the  fight  she 
herself  led  her  half  breeds,  with  tomahawk  wav- 
ing aloft  and  urging  her  savages  on  with  horrid 
screams  and  imprecations. 

After  this  there  came  the  tragedy  of  Bloody 
Bock. 

"Are  the  stories  sufficiently  thrilling  to 
satisfy  you?"  I  asked,  turning  to  Kathleen. 

"Quite,  I  had  no  idea  that  there  was  so  much 
material  for  a  romance  in  Pennsylvania.  What 
a  wonderful  novel  could  be  written  about  this 
region,  something  even  finer  than  Conan  Doyle's 
Refugees!  His  descriptions  of  Johnson  Hall 
are  very  interesting;  but  if  he  had  brought  his 
French  hero  and  heroine  down  here,  what  a 
story  he  could  have  made  of  the  life  here  at 
Asylum,  and  the  troubles  with  the  Indians 
and  halfbreeds ! 

"Yes,  and  Chambers  might  have  made  some- 
thing fine  about  Asylum  in  Cardigan,  especially 
if  he  had  brought  his  story  down  to  1797,  when 
the  Orleans  princes  were  here.  Louis  Philippe, 
afterwards  King  of  the  French,  and  his  brothers, 
the  Duke  de  Montpensier  and  Count  Beaujolais, 
were  traveling  incognito  at  this  time,  and  were 
said  to  have  come  to  Asylum  by  way  of  Canan- 
daigua  and  Tioga  Point.  On  their  return  trip 
by  boat  they  stopped  overnight  at  the  i  Arnold 
Tavern'  in  Wilkes-Barre.  These  distinguished 
visitors  probably  met  some  of  their  friends 

298 


A  PENNSYLVANIA  RETREAT  FOR  ROYALTY 

among  the  refugees  at  Asylum,  or  Frenehtown, 
as  it  was  often  called." 

After  making  inquiries,  Craddock  found  that 
the  best  way  to  reach  Pottsville  was  by  the  State 
Highway,  which  runs  quite  near  the  Susque- 
hanna  at  Wyalusing.  This  road  goes  through 
Athens,  where  we  were  told  again  that  this  town 
was  once  Tioga  Point,  and  that  the  site  of  Queen 
Esther's  town  was  quite  near.  She  has  certainly 
left  her  mark  all  through  this  region. 

' '  She  was  a  distinguished  woman  whatever 
her  reputation  may  have  been,"  said  Kathleen. 
"I'd  like  to  see  her  picture,  we  always  have  pic- 
tures of  celebrities  now.  I  only  hope  Catlin 
painted  her  portrait,  all  these  people  say  that 
she  was  very  handsome." 


XV 

DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL  TO  POTTSVILLE 
AND  READING 

WE  stopped  overnight  in  Wilkes-Barre  and 
came  down  through  Hazleton  and  another  great 
coal  region  to  Pottsville.  The  latter  part  of  our 
trip  was  by  the  Schuylkill,  which  rises  in  the 
mountains  south  of  Hazleton.  Pottsville  is  an- 
other hill  town  in  among  the  mountains,  and  the 
land  in  and  around  it  was  once  a  great  pine  for- 
est, where  the  breakers  and  culm  banks 
now  stand. 

Coal  has  been  the  great  interest  here  for 
years,  and  a  sharp  rivalry  has  long  been  main- 
tained between  this  and  other  towns  in  the  coal 
belt  as  to  which  one  first  found  the  precious 
black  rocks.  While  Sarah  pursued  her  gene- 
alogical researches  at  the  Historical  Society, 
Kathleen  and  I  wandered  about  the  town,  uphill 
and  down  dale,  and  in  the  course  of  our  rambles 
we  were  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  an  acquaint- 
ance who  told  us  many  interesting  tales  about 
this  region  and  gave  us  a  paper  to  read  which 
answered  some  of  our  questions  about  the  dis- 
covery of  coal.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that 
Philip  Ginther,  a  hunter,  discovered  coal  at 
Summit  Hill,  Mauch  Chunk,  in  1791,  while  try- 

300 


DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL 


ing  to  dig  out  some  game  which  had  " holed" 
among  the  rocks ;  but  earlier  than  that,  in  1768, 
specimens  of  anthracite  coal  were  found  in  Wy- 
oming and  sent  to  England.  Captain  Halber- 
stadt  has  official  evidence  that  seven  or  eight 
years  before  Ginther's  discovery  there  was  a 
coal  mine  in  Pottsville,  and  his  proof  rests  upon 
an  Act  approved  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, March  15,  1784,  for  the  improvement  of 
the  navigation  of  the  Schuylkill,  so  as  to  make  it 
passable  at  all  times,  by  enabling  the  inhabitants 
to  bring  their  produce  to  market,  furnishing  the 
county  adjoining  the  same  and  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia with  coal,  masts,  boards,  etc. 

This  is  incontrovertible  evidence  that  coal 
was  found  here  before  1784,  unless  indeed  the 
good  citizens  of  Pottsville  were  prophets  and 
were  making  their  arrangements  for  the  future 
on  the  strength  of  visions  of  the  black  rock  which 
had  come  to  them.  Even  earlier  than  this  there 
were  evidences  of  coal  having  been  found  in  this 
vicinity,  for  Scull's  map,  which  was  issued  in 
1770,  shows  that  coal  had  been  seen  and  located 
on  this  map,  for  in  no  less  than  five  places  there 
appear  conventional  signs  and  over  them  the 
word  "coal."  "As  to  three  of  these  localities 
there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt.  The  first  and 
nearest  to  Pottsville  is  on  the  Sunbury  road, 
between  the  west  branch  of  Norwegian  Creek 
and  Minersville,  at  a  point  at  or  near  the  junc- 

301 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

tion  of  this  road  with,  the  road  from  York  Farm 
Colliery,  known  as  the  Bull's  Head  road.  The 
others  are  apparently  near  Silverton  Junction, 
the  first  on  the  north  side  of  the  west  branch  of 
the  Schuylkill,  about  midway  between  Westwood 
Station  and  Silverton  Junction,  the  other  on 
the  west  side  of  the  branch  flowing  south  from 
Llewellyn.  The  other  localities  are  either  in  or 
very  near  Ashland.  Comparing  the  water- 
courses on  this  map,  made  over  one  hundred  and 
forty-six  years  ago,  with  the  maps  but  recently 
made,  one  is  struck  by  the  near  approach  to 
accuracy  of  that  map  of  long,  long  ago.  At 
a  time,  indeed,  when  unfriendly  Indians  lurked 
about  them,  habitations  were  few  and  far  be- 
tween, the  surveyors  subsisted  on  provisions 
carried  with  them  and  upon  the  game  they  were 
able  to  kill.  All  honor  to  these  hardy  fellows 
for  the  excellent  surveys  they  made  while  en- 
during, no  doubt,  hardships  and  deprivations. 
In  their  maps  they  have  left  to  posterity  im- 
perishable monuments.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  names  of  all  members  of  the  several  field 
parties  do  not  appear  on  the  maps.  Their 
names,  however,  are  preserved  in  the  surveyors' 
note  books."  1 

The  most  interesting  account  of  an  experi- 
ment in  the  use  of  coal  is  that  given  by  Col- 
onel Shoemaker: 

1  Monograph  by  Captain  Baird  Halberstadt  of  Pottsville. 
302 


DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL 


"I  was  induced  to  make  the  venture  of  taking 
the  coal, to  Philadelphia  from  the  success  at- 
tending its  use  at  Pottsville,  both  in  the  black- 
smith shop  and  for  warming  houses,  and  I  could 
not  believe  that  so  useful  an  article  was  intended 
to  always  lie  in  the  earth  unnoticed  and  un- 
known. When  I  induced  Mr.  Mellon  to  try  the 
coal  in  the  rolling  mill  I  accompanied  the  coal 
to  the  mill,  arriving  there  in  the  evening.  The 
foreman  of  the  mill  pronounced  the  coal  to  be 
stones  and  not  coal,  and  that  I  was  an  impostor 
in  seeking  to  palm  off  such  on  his  employer  as 
coal.  As  a  fair  trial  of  it  by  this  man  or  the  men 
under  him  could  not  be  expected,  it  was  arranged 
between  myself  and  Mellon,  who  was  a  practical 
workman,  to  experiment  with  the  coal  early  next 
morning  before  the  workmen  came. 

' l  We  accordingly  repaired  to  the  mill  in  the 
morning  and  kindled  a  fire  in  one  of  the  furnaces 
with  wood  on  which  we  placed  the  coal.  After  it 
began  to  ignite  Mellon  was  inclined  to  use  the 
poker,  against  which  I  cautioned  him.  Shortly 
after  we  were  called  to  breakfast,  previous  to 
which  I  had  observed  the  blue  blaze  of  the 
kindling  anthracite  just  breaking  through  the 
body  of  the  coal ;  then  I  knew  it  was  all  right  if 
it  were  let  alone,  and  I  directed  the  men  left  in 
charge  not  to  use  the  poker  or  open  the  furnace 
door  until  our  return. 

"When  we  returned,  we  found  the  furnace 

20  303 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

in  a  perfect  glow  of  white  heat.  The  iron  was 
put  in  and  heated  in  much  less  time  than  usual 
and  it  passed  through  the  mills  with  unusual 
facility  and  in  the  language  of  the  workmen 
'like  lead.'  " 

The  above  story  was  told  by  Colonel  Shoe- 
maker at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  the 
Schuylkill  County  Coal  Associations  in  1823. 

Soon  after  anthracite  coal  was  discovered  in 
Schuylkill  County,  Samuel  Wetherill,  Stephen 
Girard  and  two  other  Philadelphia  gentlemen 
drove  to  Pottsville  and  bought  large  tracts  of 
coal  land.  Mr.  Wetherill  had  several  tons  hauled 
in  wagons  to  Philadelphia,  piled  up  in  front  of 
his  factory,  and  a  notice  put  up  inviting  citizens 
to  take  some  of  the  fuel,  known  then  as  black 
rock,  free  of  charge  and  try  it.  One  experi- 
menter became  impatient  after  several  attempts 
to  ignite  the  "black  rock,"  and  threw  it  into 

the  fireplace  in  despair,  disgusted  with  the  d 

stuff,  as  he  expressed  it,  when  to  his  surprise 
the  black  rock  soon  became  as  red  as  the  burn- 
ing wood,  and  the  new  fuel  suddenly  be- 
came popular. 

The  most  thrilling  page  in  the  history  of 
Pottsville  is  that  which  relates  to  the  Mollie 
Maguires,  a  secret  association  composed  of  less 
than  six  hundred  members  that  for  years  terror- 
ized this  region.  It  seems  almost  incredible 
that  so  small  an  organization  should  have 

304 


DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL 


wielded  such  absolute  power.  The  Mollie  Ma- 
guires  professed  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  Hibernians'  Board  of  Erin,  and  while 
all  were  Catholics,  the  church  repudiated  them 
because  of  their  lawlessness.  They  became  ac- 
tive about  1865,  and  for  several  years  pursued 
a  policy  of  murder,  their  chief  victims  being 
mine  officials,  and  the  center  of  their  activities 
being  Pottsville  and  four  or  five  other  towns  in 
the  coal  region.  In  1873  conditions  had  become 
so  intolerable  in  consequence  of  the  network 
of  intrigue  that  this  organization  had  spread 
over  the  township  and  the  many  murders  com- 
mitted that  Franklin  B.  Gowen,  president  of  the 
Philadelphia  and  Beading  Coal  and  Iron  Com- 
pany, called  on  Alan  Pinkerton  to  use  his  de- 
tective forces  to  ferret  out  the  murderers. 
Pinkerton  sent  James  McParlan,  a  bright  young 
detective,  to  the  coal  regions.  The  personal  risk 
was,  of  course,  very  great;  but  McParlan  en- 
tered with  spirit  into  the  adventure,  and  his 
description  of  his  penetrating  into  the  secret 
meeting-places  of  the  conspirators  reads  like 
a  Sherlock  Holmes  romance.  He  even  ventured 
into  the  headquarters  of  the  gang,  a  hotel  and 
saloon  kept  by  their  "big  chief, "  Jack  Kehoe, 
always  creating  the  impression  that  he  was  one 
of  their  active  members,  the  while  constantly 
transmitting  reports  of  the  gang's  activities  to 
his  chief  and  captain,  Eobert  J.  Linden,  of 

305 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Philadelphia,  commander  of  the  coal  and  iron 
police.  Through  McParlan's  efforts,  who  was 
"McKenna"  to  the  Mollies,  seventy  arrests 
were  made,  and  evidence  obtained  which  sent 
many  to  prison  for  varying  terms ;  twelve  were 
convicted  of  murder  in  the  first  degree  and 
hanged;  four  of  murder  in  the  second  degree; 
four  as  accessories,  six  of  perjury,  one  of  assault 
and  battery  and  one  of  aiding  a  murderer 
to  escape. 

Some  of  the  older  residents  of  Pottsville  re- 
call the  exciting  days  of  the  trial  of  the  Mollie 
Maguires  and  of  Mr.  Gowen's  wonderful  presen- 
tation of  the  case  against  the  outlaws,  which 
lasted  for  many  hours,  but  was  so  eloquent  and 
convincing  that  they  never  thought  of  fatigue 
and  were  unwilling  to  leave  the  court  room  until 
its  conclusion.  The  breaking  up  of  the  intoler- 
able tyranny  of  this  secret  organization  was 
said  to  be  largely  due  to  Mr.  Gowen's  untiring 
efforts,  and  in  the  face  of  great  obstacles,  this 
region  having  been  so  completely  terrorized  that 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  obtain  a  jury. 

Among  the  lawyers  who  tried  these  cases  at 
a  risk  to  their  own  lives  were  Judge  Pershing, 
Judge  Green,  Judge  Walker,  of  Pottsville,  and 
many  other  jurists  equally  well  knowni. 

Our  day  and  night  in  Pottsville  were  cer- 
tainly interesting  and  exciting,  with  all  the 
thrilling  tales  that  were  poured  into  our  ears. 

306 


DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL 


Sarah  was  not  as  well  pleased  with  her  day's 
work,  as  she  did  not  find  all  that  she  wished  at 
the  Historical  Society.  She  may,  however,  be 
more  fortunate  in  Reading  to-morrow. 

The  city  of  Beading  is  spoken  of  in  a  Gazet- 
teer that  was  issued  from,  the  press  of  the 
Baileys  at  Yorick's  Head  on  High,  or  Market, 
Street,  Philadelphia,  about  1795,  as  "a  post 
town  chiefly  inhabited  by  Germans,  remarkable 
for  the  manufacture  of  wool  hats  and  contain- 
ing about  six  hundred  houses. "  This  descrip- 
tion seems  odd  enough  when  we  stroll  through 
the  large  prosperous  city  of  to-day  with  its 
handsome  buildings  and  its  over  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  handsome  Carnegie 
Library  was  only  built  in  1898 ;  but  many  of  the 
books  which  it  houses  date  back  to  the  old  library 
established  here  in  1808.  The  fine  jail,  which 
looks  like  a  castle  of  the  middle  ages,  is  of  com- 
paratively modern  date.  Of  this  institution  the 
citizens  of  Beading  are  said  to  take  pride  for 
two  good  reasons — on  account  of  its  architec- 
tural excellence  and  its  dwindling  patronage. 
The  only  building  that  seemed  to  us  very  old 
is  the  Quaker  Meeting  House,  which  is  not  so 
very  old  after  all,  as  it  was  built  in  the 
last  century. 

Although  the  life  of  to-day  so  overshadows 
the  older  town,  Beading  is  an  old  place,  having 
been  laid  out  in  1748,  and  on  an  original  Penn 
Manor.  It  may  be  said  to  the  honor  of  the  good 

307 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

proprietary  that  although  he  had  a  grant  for 
the  land  from  Charles  II,  he  also  paid  the  In- 
dians of  this  region  for  their  interest  in  it.  The 
streets  were  at  first  named  after  members  of 
the  Penn  family,  the  one  called  after  the  Pro- 
prietary is  still  known  by  that  name  and  is  one 
of  the  principal  business  streets  of  the  city; 
but  Thomas,  Bichard  and  Margaret  have  given 
place  to  the  more  convenient  but  less  attractive 
names  of  First,  Second,  Third  and  Fourth 
Streets.  No  encroaching  business  activities, 
however,  can  take  away  from  Beading  its  de- 
lightful situation  upon  the  river,  with  the  moun- 
tains rising  above  it. 

This  town  experienced  some  exciting  days  in 
the  autumn  of  1777,  when  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Philadelphia  took  refuge  here.  Duffy's 
Tavern  was  a  well-known  stopping-place  in 
those  days.  Jacob  Hiltzheimer  recorded  in  his 
diary  that  he  sent  his  goods  to  Beading  and  to 
Northampton  County,  and  he  and  his  family 
came  here  later  and  stopped  with  General  Mif- 
flin,  who  had  a  farm  near  Beading  which  he 
called  Angelica. 

Under  date  of  October  6th,  he  wrote:  "Set 
out  from  Trenton  with  my  family  for  Beading, 
crossed  the  Delaware  at  CoryelPs,  and  was  di- 
rected to  one  Armitage,  Bucks  County,  but  he 
refused  to  give  us  lodgings,  as  did  one  Balder  - 
ston,  at  the  next  farm,  but  at  the  third  farm 
we  were  more  fortunate. 

808 


DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL 


* l  October  10th. — Arrived  at  Beading,  where 
we  were  received  by  General  Mifflin  in  his  usual 


warm  manner. " 


Some  years  later,  under  more  cheerful  con- 
ditions, Mr.  Hiltzheimer  recorded  a  jaunt  to 
Beading  with  some  friends,  this  time  to  a 
Christmas  festivity,  and  under  date  of  Decem- 
ber 25,  1787: 

"Christmas.  We  three  went  to  Beading,  by 
invitation  of  General  D.  Broadhead,  and  dined 
with  him.  There  were  nine  at  the  table:  Mr.  C. 
Bead,  Mr.  Dundass,  Mr.  D.  Clymer,  Mr.  Moore, 
General  Mifflin,  Captain  Falkner  and  myself/' 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  Hiltzheimer 's 
diary  and  the  number  and  character  of  the  din- 
ners he  attended  can  readily  imagine  what  a 
jovial  meal  that  was,  and  it  is  altogether  safe  to 
assert  that  there  were  some  liquids  as  well  as 
solids  dispensed. 

Other  estates  in  the  lovely  rolling  country 
around  Beading  are  those  of  the  Heber  Smiths, 
the  Baers,  De  Bennevilles,  Keims,  Hiesters  and 
Clymers.  Joanna  Furnace  has  been  in  the 
Smith  family  130  years,  the  furnace  having  been 
erected  in  1790  and  the  mansion  in  1805.  Sev- 
eral thousand  acres  of  woodland  are  connected 
with  the  property.  The  furnace  was  in  opera- 
tion until  shortly  before  the  death  of  Colonel  L. 
Heber  Smith  in  1898,  but  is  now  practically  in 
ruins,  but  the  surroundings  are  most  picturesque 
and  beautiful,  the  house  is  in  good  condition  and 

309 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

is  still  occupied  during  the  summer  by  the  family 
of  Colonel  Smith.  At  Birdsboro,  not  far  from 
Beading,  is  the  Brooke  estate  and  the  old  Manor 
House,  which  is  still  standing. 

To  add  to  the  historic  interest  of  this  region, 
we  were  told  that  the  house  in  which  Daniel 
Boone,  the  Kentucky  pioneer  was,  born,  still 
stands  about  eight  miles  east  of  Reading,  and 
still  more  important  the  Lincoln  homestead, 
owned  by  Abraham  Lincoln's  ancestors,  is  about 
six  miles  southeast  of  Beading.  Mr.  Cyrus  T. 
Fox,  Secretary  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Berks  'County,  told  us  that  he  had  a  talk  with 
Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  subject  of  his  Berks  County 
ancestry  several  weeks  before  his  assassination. 

After  we  had  seen  something  of  Beading  and 
taken  some  of  the  beautiful  drives,  we  decided  to 
go  to  Allentown,  as  Sarah  wished  to  see  a  house 
there  built  by  James  Allen,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
1770,  and  named  Trout  Hall,  for  the  reason,  as 
given  by  the  owner,  that  all  the  mountain 
streams  in  the  vicinity,  the  Jordan,  Little  Le- 
high  and  many  of  the  others  abounded  in 
fine  trout. 

"A  very  good  reason,  certainly,  for  a  man  of 
sporting  tastes !"  said  Sarah,  "and  we  really 
must  have  a  full  day  in  Allentown ;  there  is  an- 
other old  house  that  we  should  see,  and  as  Beth- 
lehem is  so  near,  why  not  go  there  for  Sunday? 
Nothing  could  be  more  interesting  than  to  spend 
a  Sunday  in  the  old  Moravian  town.  And  then," 

310 


! 


TROUT  HALL,  ALLENTOWN,  BUILT  BY  JAMES  ALLEN  IN  1770 


DOWN  THE  SCHUYLKILL 


— we  waited  for  the  conclusion  of  the  sentence, 
and  Sarah,  being  an  honest  woman,  added— 
' '  and  then,  there  are  treasures  in  the  Moravian 
Archives  that  I  have  always  wanted  to  see. " 

"And  so  you  shall, "  said  Kathleen,  "and  I 
have  friends  there  who  will  take  us  to  Nazareth 
and  all  the  places  around  Bethlehem. " 

The  ride  from  Beading  to  Allentown  is 
through  a  rolling,  highly-cultivated  country, 
with  mountains  in  the  distance  to  break  in  upon 
the  sameness  of  the  immense  fields  of  corn  and 
great  meadows  with  streams  running  through 
them;  and  as  for  white  chickens,  there  seemed  to 
be  thousands  of  them  dotted  over  the  green.  We 
had  seen  many  chicken  farms ;  but  never  so  many 
beautiful  white  fowls  anywhere  as  there  are 
here  in  Berks  County. 

Kathleen  was  enchanted  with  these  farms 
and  wished  to  go  into  the  chicken  business  at 
once.  She  even  went  so  far  as  to  get  Craddock 
to  stop  at  the  Maxatawny  Inn  at  Kutztown  to 
ask  if  there  were  any  farms  for  sale  in 
the  neighborhood. 

Of  course,  there  were  farms  to  sell;  there 
are  any  number  of  them  waiting  to  be  sold, 
especially  to  prosperous-looking  travelers,  who 
tour  in  a  Eolls-Royce. 

The  road  which  runs  for  some  distance  near 
the  trolley  line  is  very  good  and  as  we  sped 
along  through  Breinigsville  and  Trexlertown,  I 
remembered  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Trexlers, 

311 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  Allentown,  settled  near  here  before  1720  on 
land  purchased  from  Caspar  Wister,  and  here 
Peter  Trexler,  son  of  Peter  Trexler,  the  settler, 
was  born  in  1721.  He  was  a  useful  citizen,  hav- 
ing served  as  Colonial  Justice  of  the  Peace  from 
1753  to  1776,  and  afterwards  as  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  for  the  United  States.  He  was  also  one  of 
the  first  county  commissioners  of  Northampton 
County.  Judge  Trexler  is  the  ancestor  of  Gen- 
eral H.  C.  Trexler  and  the  Hon.  Frank  M.  Trex- 
ler, of  Allentown. 

I  once  made  this  trip  in  May  and  can  never 
forget  the  beauty  of  the  farms  of  this  region 
and  the  great  orchards,  with  the  pear  blos- 
soms still  like  a  white  cloud  upon  the  trees,  and 
the  apple  blossoms  in  full  pink  and  white  per- 
fection. General  Trexler 's  vast  apple  orchards 
were  a  joy  to  behold  and  the  blossoms  filled  the 
air  with  fragrance.  Those  fortunate  travelers 
who  have  been  to  Japan  say  that  nothing  out- 
side of  that  Island  Kingdom  can  equal  these  Al- 
lentown orchards. 

Our  roads  have  been  beside  rivers  so  much 
of  the  route  that  we  quite  missed  them  on  our 
tour  from  Beading  to  Allentown,  and  we  did  not 
even  cross  Jordan  Creek,  as  that  mountain 
stream  flows  into  the  Lehigh  River  north  of  Al- 
lentown. Here  the  Lehigh  makes  a  sudden  curve 
in  order  to  flow  through  the  old  town 
of  Bethlehem  and  on  to  Easton,  where  it  joins 
the  Delaware. 


XVI 
ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

ALLENTOWN  is  set  down  in  " Scott's  Gazet- 
teer" of  1795  as  a  handsome andflourishing  town 
of  Northampton  County,  with  about  ninety  dwell- 
ings. At  that  time  there  were  only  twenty-three 
counties  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Lehigh  was  still  a 
part  of  Northampton  County.  The  Allentown 
of  to-day  certainly  presents  a  striking  contrast 
to  this  description,  with  its  wide  streets,  fine 
residences,  extensive  and  handsome  hospital, 
college  buildings  and  many  churches. 

We  were  fortunate  in  having  friends  in 
Allentown  who  took  us  about,  showed  us  the 
places  we  wished  to  see,  and  at  Trout  Hall  which 
is  now  the  headquarters  of  the  Lehigh  Historical 
Society  we  met  some  of  its  members,  who  told  us 
many  interesting  things  about  the  town  and  the 
old  houses  here. 

It  seems  that  Northampton  was  the  name 
given  to  Allentown,  when  Chief  Justice  Allen 
had  the  town  laid  out  in  1762  on  his  land.  Even 
before  this,  Mr.  Allen,  having  become  the  owner 
of  five  thousand  acres  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Lehigh,  had  built  for  himself  a  log  house,  near 
the  banks  of  Jordan  Creek,  to  be  used  for  his 

813 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

friends  and  himself  as  a  hunting  and  fishing 
lodge.  This  log  house  of  1740  was  the  first  build- 
ing on  the  Allen  tract,  and  in  1763  sixteen  men 
were  taxed  as  residents  of  the  village,  among 
them  Simon  Brenner,  Martin  Derr,  David 
Deshler,  Peter  Schwab  and  Judge  Rhoads  who 
had  already  built  a  substantial  stone  house  here. 
The  streets  of  the  new  town  were  named  for 
prominent  men  in  the  Province,  as  Penn,  Hamil- 
ton, Chew,  Allen,  Turner,  and  also  after  the 
streets  of  Philadelphia. 

Colonel  James  Burd  was  evidently  interested 
in  the  new  town  as  he  bought  several  lots  here 
as  early  as  1762,  and  had  a  house  built  on  his 
property;  but  during  the  next  years,  while  Chief 
Justice  Allen  and  his  daughters  were  in  Eng- 
land, a  serious  calamity  befell  the  little  town, 
which  changed  Colonel  Burd's  plans,  and  seri- 
ously retarded  its  growth.  '  *  On  the  8th  of  Octo- 
ber/' says  Mr.  Charles  R.  Roberts,  "a  band  of 
Indians  descended  upon  Allen  and  Whitehall 
townships,  only  six  miles  distant  from  Allen- 
town,  and  killed  fifteen  persons.  In  a  few  hours 
the  town  was  crowded  with  refugees,  and  al- 
though it  was  Sunday,  Rev.  Jacob  Joseph  Roth, 
a  Lutheran  minister,  who  was  conducting  a  ser- 
vice in  the  log  church  at  Hamilton  and  Church 
Streets,  was  compelled  to  stop  the  service  and 
assist  Colonel  Burd,  who  had  arrived  in  the 
town,  to  form  a  company  to  protect  the  town. 

314 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

George  Wolf  was  chosen  Captain,  and  Abraham 
Einker,  Lieutenant,  of  a  company  of  twenty-five 
men  organized. ' ' 

Writing  of  this  event  later  Colonel  Burd 
says:  "This  new  Indian  war  has  altered  the 
situation  of  my  affairs  greatly.  I  thought  to 
have  been  very  pleasantly  situated  at  North- 
ampton with  my  family  and  have  rendered  some 
small  marks  of  my  gratitude  to  one  of  my  best 
friends.  I  think  it  would  be  best  if  agreeable 
to  Mr.  Allen  and  you  that  Mr.  Gordon  should 
give  directions  about  the  management  of  the 
town  to  the  best  man  he  can  find  upon  the  spot. 
I  mean,  to  prevent  abuses  on  the  Plantation,  in 
cutting  down  the  Timber,  as  it  is  out  of  my 
power  in  my  present  circumstances  to  do  my 
worthy  friend  that  service.  The  Plantation 
might  be  rented  for  a  year  until  Mr.  Allen  should 
return  from  England  if  you  thought  proper,  but 
the  house  should  have  a  new  roof  immediately, 
otherwise  it  will  all  rot." 

In  1767  Mr.  Allen  deeded  to  his  son  James, 
this  town  and  all  his  land  adjoining  it,  a  princely 
gift  of  over  three  thousand  acres,  and  it  was  he 
who  built  Trout  Hall  in  1770,  so  named  "  for  the 
reason  that  all  the  streams  in  the  vicinity,  the 
Jordan,  Little  Lehigh,  and  Cedar  Creeks  and 
the  Lehigh  Eiver,  abounded  in  the  gamy  trout. ' ' 

"  A  very  good  sporting  reason, M  said  Kath- 
leen. "Those  old-time  gentlemen  were  sports 

315 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

and  had  good  times  even  if  they  lacked  many  of 
our  luxuries,  and  they  always  seem  to  have  had 
leisure  to  enjoy  themselves  in  their  day  and  gen- 
eration, which  most  people  now  have  not." 

'  '  When  you  see  Grouse  Hall,  you  will  believe 
still  more  in  the  sporting  tastes  of  those  early 
land  holders  of  Allentown,"  said  one  of  the 
local  historians. 

Writing  in  his  diary  in  1770,  Mr.  Allen  said : 
"Two  days  ago  I  returned  from  Trout  Hall  (a 
name  I  have  just  given  my  house)  where  I  had 
been  with  Mr.  Lawrence,  my  brother  Billy  and 
Jenny  Tilghman.  We  were  at  Heller's  near  the 
Wind  Gap  of  ye  mountain,  but  to  our  surprise 
did  not  kill  one  grouse. ' '  In  June  1776,  he  wrote, 
* '  This  day  I  set  off  with  my  family  for  North- 
ampton, with  the  Chariot,  Phaeton  and  Sulky. " 
In  September  1776,  Mr.  Allen  visited  New  York 
and  was  received  by  General  Washington  at  his 
headquarters,  "with  the  utmost  politeness, " 
where  he  found  many  friends.  June  6,  1777,  he 
writes :  "  I  am  now  fixed  here,  and  am  very  busy 
in  gardening,  planting,  etc.  I  visit  Phila.  once 
in  two  months.  Mr.  Hamilton  is  now  at  my 
house;  he  arrived  here  the  17th  of  last  month 

and  is  very  happy  that  he  is  so  well  situated 

Since  the  Battle  of  Brandywine  many  thousand 
waggons  passed  my  door  and  are  continually 
passing  in  great  numbers.  All  the  baggage  of 
our  Army  is  at  Bethlehem  and  here ;  and  what 

316 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

with  Hospitals  and  artificers  these  little  towns 
are  filled.  Every  day  some  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Philadelphia  are  coming  up  to  settle  here. 
The  road  from  Easton  to  Beading,  by  my  house, 
is  now  the  most  travelled  in  America,  Many  of 
the  Congress  passed  by  this  place. " l 

As  we  stood  on  the  porch  of  Trout  Hall, 
which  was  once  the  front  of  the  house,  and  com- 
manded a  full  view  of  this  road  we  were  told 
why  this  turnpike  was  so  much  traveled  as  it  not 
only  led  from  Easton  to  Beading,  but  also  from 
New  York  to  Pittsburgh.  A  fine  sweep  of  land 
slopes  down  from  the  porch  to  the  road  which 
is  now  Union  Street,  and  here  by  this  old  house 
John  Adams  passed  in  November  1777,  as  Mr. 
Allen  says,  and  by  this  road  were  removed 
the  great  military  stores  which  had  been  col- 
lected here,  and  at  Bethlehem,  and  Easton,  all 
of  which  were  taken  to  Carlisle  after  the  British 
entered  Philadelphia. 

We  were  taken  to  Grouse  Hall,  a  little  way 
out  from  the  town,  another  fishing  and  hunting 
box;  this  one  built  by  Lynford  Lardner  of 
Philadelphia  who  owned  quite  a  tract  of  land 
here.  This  attractive  house,  with  a  long  porch, 
beautifully  shaded  by  great  trees,  was  built 
sometime  before  Trout  Hall,  as  Mr.  Lardner 
wrote  in  1753  of  his  tenant  at  Grouse  Hall.  It 
now  belongs  to  General  Trexler,  in  common  with 

1 "  History  of  Trout  Hall  "  by  Charles  R.  Roberts,  pp.  4-7 
817 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

many  properties  around  Allentown,  and  is  used 
by  him  very  much  as  it  was  by  its  first  owner, 
'  '  Which  proves, ' '  said  one  of  our  party  turning 
to  Kathleen,  "that  people  still  find  time  to  fish 
and  hunt  game,  even  in  this  busy  world. ' ' 

Indeed  Allentown,  as  we  saw  it  to-day, 
seemed  a  gay,  bright  town  where  one  might 
enjoy  life ;  but  then  we  viewed  it  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  being  motored  to  inter- 
esting places  in  and  around  the  town.  We  even 
saw  a  large  hatchery  for  fish  where  trout  are 
cared  for  from  babyhood  to  maturity,  from  mid- 
gets, the  size  of  a  pin,  to  the  beautiful,  shining 
creatures,  with  their  red  fins,  that  disported 
themselves  joyously  in  the  great  tanks  of  the 
hatchery,  a  sight  to  arouse  old  Isaak  Walton 
from  his  dreams  to  marvel  over  the  resources 
of  this  great  new  world.  We  were  told  that  at 
certain  seasons  the  owner  of  the  hatchery  opens 
the  sluices  and  allows  the  trout  to  swim  into  the 
Jordan,  and  other  mountain  streams.  A  most 
public-spirited  act,  and  one  to  be  commended  to 
those  who  own  property,  where  creeks  and 
mountain  streams  abound! 

"  Think  of  eating  trout  out  of  the  Jor- 
dan I"  exclaimed  Kathleen.  "It  seems  almost 
sacrilegious. ' ' 

"You  are  to  have  some  of  these  trout  for 
luncheon,  not  out  of  the  Jordan,  but  from  waters 
which  are  quite  near  it,"  said  one  of  our  friends, 

318 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

pointing  to  a  stream  wandering  through  a  lovely 
meadow  quite  close  to  the  hatchery.  The  speaker 
proved  herself  to  be  a  prophetess,  as  moun- 
tain trout  formed  the  piece  de  resistance  of  a 
luncheon  fit  for  the  gods,  and  were  as  good  as 
they  were  beautiful,  so  having  lived  their 
happy,  brief  day  in  the  water  which  they  loved, 
they  came  crisp  and  brown  to  the  festal  board 
to  add  to  our  pleasure. 

"A  not  unworthy  mission  to  this  world, "  as 
one  of  the  party  remarked  with  a  brown  trout 
lying  on  his  plate. 

We  had  often  been  to  Bethlehem,  to  the  Bach 
festivals,  and  at  Christmas  and  at  Easter,  which 
latter  is  the  most  interesting  time  of  all.  We 
knew  its  beauty  at  each  season,  in  the  spring, 
when  the  trees  are  decked  in  delicate  green  and 
the  fruit  trees  are  white  with  blossoms,  and  in 
the  fall  when  the  Lehigh  Mountains  are  aflame 
in  their  gorgeous  autumnal  livery,  and  every 
tree  and  shrub  is  a  burning  bush.  This  year, 
even  in  July,  we  found  Bethlehem  fresh  and 
fair,  perhaps  in  consequence  of  the  frequent 
rains;  and  most  accommodating  showers  they 
had  been,  as  they  usually  had  come  at  night. 

Here  in  Bethlehem  we  three  separated  for 
the  first  time,  I  staying  with  a  friend  in  one  of 
the  old  buildings  and  Sarah  and  Kathleen  at  the 
Sun  Inn,  on  Main  Street,  which  with  its  wide 
arched  entrance  on  one  side,  and  the  swinging, 

21  319 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

painted  sign  of  1758,  made  us  think  of  some 
English  inn  far  back  in  the  centuries,  such  as 
one  sees  at  Glastonbury  or  Canterbury. 

The  back  windows  of  my  friend's  habitation 
look  out  upon  the  Lehigh  Mountain,  which  at 
night  is  quite  brilliant  with  the  lights  of  the 
college  buildings,  dormitories,  and  fraternity 
houses.  Prom  the  front  windows  of  this  house 
on  Church  Street,  we  could  see  two  very  old 
buildings,  the  Gemeinhaus  of  1741,  and  the  first 
Moravian  Seminary  for  girls,  built  in  1746, 
familiarly  called  the  "Bell  House,"  as  it  is  sur- 
mounted by  an  ancient  belf  rey.  This  building, 
with  its  vine-covered  doorways  under  one 
of  which  we  passed,  through  an  arched  and 
tiled  hall  to  a  garden,  is  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting houses  in  the  old  town.  Since  the  Semi- 
nary was  removed  to  more  commodious  quarters 
further  west  on  Church  Street,  this  house  has 
been  used  as  a  home  for  single  sisters  of  the 
Moravian  Church. 

Beyond  the  "Bell  House "  is  the  ancient  hill- 
side graveyard,  with  its  great  trees  under  whose 
overshadowing  branches  many  of  the  Fathers  of 
the  Church,  and  the  Mothers  also,  sleep  their  last 
sleep.  Here  also  are  the  graves  of  a  number  of 
Christian  Indians,'  as  the  early  Moravians  were 
most  successful  missionaries  among  the  natives, 
and  many  interesting  stories  are  told  of  their 
experiences  with  some  of  their  converts. 

320 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

During  the  first  visit  to  Bethlehem,  of  Count 
Zinzendorf,  a  death  occurred  in  the  community, 
and  as  Bishop  Levering  says:  "  In  conducting 
the  funeral,  Zinzendorf  consecrated  the  ground 
as  the  *  God's  Acre ' of  the  settlement,  the  present 
historic  old  cemetery.  It  was  at  first  often 
called  Bethlehem's  Hutberg,  after  the  hill  of 
that  name,  in  which  the  cemetery  of  Herrnhut 
is  situated.2 

Count  Zinzendorf,  himself  a  great  mission- 
ary and  leading  spirit  in  the  Church  of  the 
Unitas  Pratrum,  has  been  well  represented  by 
a  long  line  of  devoted  Moravian  ministers,  of 
whom  the  most  distinguished  in  America  have 
been  Bishops  Edmund  A.  de  Schweinitz  of  Beth- 
lehem, and  Emil  de  Schweinitz  of  Salem, 
North  Carolina. 

The  present  Seminary  building  on  West 
Church  Street  is  by  no  means  of  recent  construc- 
tion, as  a  portion  of  it  was  built  some  years 
before  the  Revolutionary  War.  A  bronze  tablet 
on  the  right  side  of  the  entrance  records  the  fact 
that  in  this  building,  then  used  as  the  Brothers' 
House,  a  number  of  wounded  Continental  sol- 
diers were  cared  for,  in  1776  and  again  from 
September,  1777  unitil  April,  1778.  This  was 
the  time  that  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  was 
here  after  the  Battle  of  the  Brandywine.  He  and 
all  the  other  officers  and  soldiers  were  tenderly 
cared  for  by  the  good  sisters. 

*  "  History  of  Bethlehem,"  by  Bishop  Joseph  M.  Levering, 
p.  142. 

321 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

After  speaking  of  the  arrival  in  Bethlehem 
of  John  Hancock  and  a  number  of  Congressmen 
in  September,  1777,  Bishop  Levering  says : 

"Another  came,  to  whose  personality  and 
sojourn  at  Bethlehem,  a  special  interest  and 
somewhat  of  romance  attached.  This  was  the 
brave  and  gallant  young  French  Nobleman,  the 
Marquis  de  Lafayette,  whose  devotion  of  himself 
and  his  fortune  to  the  cause  of  American  free- 
dom remains  one  of  the  finest  features  of  the 
sublime  struggle.  Wounded  in  the  bloody  con- 
flict at  Brandywine,  which  sent  such  a  ghastly 
train  to  Bethlehem,  he  came  with  a  suite  of 
French  officers  to  seek  medical  care  at  this  place. 
From  the  Sun  Inn  he  was  taken  to  the  neighbor- 
ing house  of  George  Frederick  Boeckel,  superin- 
tendent of  the  Bethlehem  farm.  There  he  was 
attentively  nursed  by  BoeckePs  wife  Barbara 
and  daughter  Liesel,  and  pretty  little  stories 
with  variations,  connected  with  his  sojourn 
under  that  roof,  were  current  among  the  local 

traditions  many  years  afterwards. " 

*         ***** 

"The  wounded  soldiers  began  to  arrive  on 
September  21,  and  day  after  day,  they  came, 
besides  many  sick,  until  when  on  October  22,  a 
final  train  of  wagons  arrived  with  their  loads  of 
groaning  sufferers,  they  had  to  be  sent  to 
Easton.  The  surgeons  refused  to  receive  any 
more.  There  were  then  over  four  hundred  in 
the  Brothers'  House  and  fifty  in  tents  in  the 

322 


"BELL  HOUSE,"  BUILT  IN  1746,  NOW  SINGLE  SISTERS  HOUSE,  BETHLEHEM 


_,,,, 


I 


EASTER  MORNING  IN  BETHLEHEM  GRAVEYARD 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

rear  of  it,  besides  numerous  sick  officers  in 
other  buildings. ' ' 8 

There  is  another  bronze  tablet  in  the  facade 
of  the  Seminary  building  placed  there  by  the 
Sons  of  the  Eevolution,  in  memory  of  the  Con- 
tinental soldiers  who  died  here.  The  Brothers ' 
House  is  the  oldest  part  of  the  building,  and  the 
rear  view  from  the  playground  is  quaint  and 
picturesque.  The  great  shaded  lawn  at  the  back 
of  the  Seminary,  which  extends  to  the  river  bank, 
is  an  ideal  playground  for  the  school  girls  dur- 
ing term  time. 

To  enter  into  the  spirit  of  old  Bethlehem 
one  should  be  here  at  Christmas  or  Easter,  the 
latter  being  the  great  festival  of  the  year  when 
the  members  of  the  Church  meet  in  the  grave- 
yard at  dawn  and  salute  one  another  with  the 
Scripture  words,  "Christ  is  Risen,"  a  most 
beautiful  and  impressive  custom! 

At  Christmas  the  interesting  story  of  the 
naming  of  their  town  must  often  recur  to  its 
citizens  of  to-day.  Nicholas  Lewis,  Count  Zin- 
zendorf ,  was  in  America  in  1741  upon  a  mission- 
ary tour,  and  according  to  one  of  the  early 
Moravian  chronicles: 

"The  Count  arrived  in  the  Forks  [of  the 
Delaware]  a  few  days  before  Christmas.  While 
celebrating  the  vigils  of  Christmas  Eve  in  the 

'"History  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.,"  by  Joseph  M.  Levering, 
Bishop  of  the  Moravian  Church,  p.  465. 

323 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

first  house  and  as  we  were  closing  the  services 
(it  was  already  past  9  o'clock),  the  Count  led 
the  way  into  the  stable  that  adjoined  our  dwell- 
ing and  commenced  singing  the  hymn  that  opens 
with  the  words,  'Nicht  Jerusalem,  sondern  Beth- 
lehem, aus  dir  kommet  was  mir  frommet,'  and 
from  this  touching  incident  the  settlement 
received  the  name  of  Bethlehem."4 

Christmas  is  still  ushered  in  with  a  trombone 
serenade  from  the  steeple  of  the  church  on  the 
afternoon  before,  and  is  celebrated  with  a  love 
feast,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  '  *  dieners, ' '  dur- 
ing the  service,  bring  in  on  huge  trays  hundreds 
of  lighted  wax  tapers,  which  are  distributed 
while  the  congregation  sings : 

Behold  a  great,  a  heavenly  light 

From  Bethlehem's  manger  shining  bright. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  children  look  for- 
ward to  this  festive  occasion  with  great  delight. 
The  glee  with  which  these  tapers  are  received 
by  every  child  attending  the  love  feast,  as  well 
as  by  most  of  the  grown-up  folks,  is  beautiful 
to  behold.  The  solemnity  of  these  occasions, 

4  These  lines,  sung  by  Count  Zinzendorf,  were  taken  from 
a  hymn  by  Adam  Drese,  which  has  been  thus  translated: 

Not  Jerusalem, 
Rather   Bethlehem 
Gave  us  that  which 
Maketh  life  rich, 
Not  Jerusalem. 

"History  of  Bethlehem,"  by  Bishop  Joseph  M.  Levering,  p.  78. 

324 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

mingled  with  the  sweet  strains  from  the  or- 
chestra and  the  joyful  faces  glowing  in  the  flick- 
ering light  of  the  wax  tapers,  form  a  scene 
never  to  be  forgotten. 

So  much  has  been  said  about  the  marriages 
by  lot  among  the  Moravians  that  we  were  glad 
to  hear  an  explanation  from  one  well  qualified 
to  give  it,  a  Moravian  of  the  Moravians : 

"Its  application  [that  of  the  lot]  for  many 
years  to  marriages  in  the  Exclusive  Church 
Settlements  and  in  the  case  of  persons  officially 
serving  as  ministers  or  missionaries,  was  an 
attempt  to  carry  out  lofty  ideals  of  a  completely 
consecrated  associate  and  individual  life  under 
Christ,  the  Head,  and  of  complete  subjection  to 
Divine  Guidance,  believed  to  be  given  in  every 
matter  in  response  to  simple  faith,  to  be  ascer- 
tained in  this  way.  This  particular  application 
of  the  lot  was  relaxed  in  1818.  No  official  use 
of  the  lot  by  a  board,  involving  a  call  or  prop- 
osition to  any  person  ever  bound  the  persons  in 
question  without  their  previous  knowledge  or 
consent.  It  bound  the  board,  if  affirmative,  to 
extend  the  call,  or  make  the  proposition,  but 
not  the  person  to  acquiesce,  except  by  previous 
understanding.  Persons  were  not  mated 
together  for  marriage,  by  a  board  using  the  lot 
in  connecting  one  name  with  that  of  another 
without  their  concurrence.  All  official  use  of 
the  lot  was  abolished  by  the  General  Synod 

325 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

of  the  Moravian  Church  held  at  Herrnhut 
in  1889. " 

One  of  Kathleen  's  friends  took  us  one  after- 
noon up  a  winding  road  on  the  mountain  side, 
through  Sayre  Park,  by  the  handsome  buildings 
of  the  Lehigh  University,  and  the  picturesque 
dormitories  and  fraternity  houses  to  the  very 
tiptop,  where  we  stood  and  looked  down  upon 
the  town,  old  and  new. 

The  great  belfry  of  the  Moravian  Church 
stood  out  against  the  blue  sky  on  this  fair  after- 
noon, it  and  its  quaint  surroundings  forming  a 
strong  contrast  to  the  busy  new  Bethlehem,  with 
its  many  smoky  furnaces,  a  hive  of  steel  and  iron 
industries.  And  beyond  the  clouds  of  smoke  in 
the  far  distance,  we  could  see  the  curved  line  of 
the  Blue  Mountains,  the  Wind  Gap,  Lehigh  Gap, 
and  off  to  the  right,  from  where  we  stood,  the 
Delaware  Water  Gap  and  at  the  foot  of  the 
Lehigh  Mountain,  the  shining  river  flowing  on 
as  it  had  flowed  before  Bethlehem  became  a 
great  industrial  center,  and  even  before  the  good 
Moravians  founded  their  community  here. 

On  our  way  down  from  the  heights  we  were 
taken  by  Packer  Hall,  the  beautiful  Eckley  B. 
Coxe  Mining  Laboratory,  and  many  other  build- 
ings, including  the  chapel  where  the  Bach  Fes- 
tivals are  now  held.  These  days  devoted  to  the 
music  of  John  Sebastian  Bach  are  foremost 
among  the  events  of  the  year,  and  owe  their 

326 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

great  success  to  the  untiring  efforts  and  signal 
ability  of  Dr.  J.  Fred  Wolle,  the  leader,  whose 
grandfather  played  violincello  and  double-bass 
in  Bethlehem  nearly  a  century  ago,  and  also  to 
the  warm  cooperation  of  Mr.  Albert  Gr.  Rau,  and 
other  members  of  this  music-loving  community. 
Dr.  Henry  S.  Drinker,  President  of  Lehigh 
University,  is  also  the  President  of  the  Bethle- 
hem Bach  Choir  and  among  its  enthusiastic 
members,  as  are  Mr.  Charles  M.  Schwab  and  Mr. 
Warren  A.  Wilbur,  both  of  whom  have  given 
generously  to  its  support.  Indeed  mainly 
through  the  liberality  of  Mr.  Schwab  and  Mr. 
Wilbur  the  Lehigh  Valley  Symphony  Orchestra 
has  been  able  to  give  its  members  the  pleasure  of 
hearing  a  number  of  distinguished  artists.5 
The  Bach  Choir  of  to-day  seems  to  be  a  natural 
successor  of  the  "Singing  Hour"  described  in 
the  "Bethlehem  Diary"  for  June,  1742,  which 
is  the  earliest  recorded  choral  festival  at  Beth- 
lehem. There  were  eighty  singers  even  at  that 
early  date,  all  directed  by  Count  Zinzendorf . 

In  1744  a  spinet  from  London  came  to  the 
help  of  these  musicians,  and  in  1746  it  was  a 
great  day  when  this  spinet  was  supplanted  by 
an  organ  which  was  made  in  Philadelphia. 

Not  until  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
after  Bach's  death  was  the  Bach  Choir  formed 
at  Bethlehem. 

5 "  The  Bethlehem  Bach  Choir,"  by  Raymond  Walters. 
327 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

In  September,  1899,  the  call  for  recruits  was 
issued  and  in  March,  1900,  in  the  old  Moravian 
Church,  the  first  festival  was  given. 

And  now,  Mr.  Waldo  says : 

"All  through  the  winter  their  souls  are 
steeped  in  Bach  until  they  know  every  shade  and 
secret  of  the  text  and  the  setting.  The  tunes  are 
running  through  their  heads  during  housework 
or  at  the  lathes  of  the  steel  mills. 

"They  live  for  Bach  in  order  to  sing  the 
music  as  it  was  meant  to  be  sung. ' ' 

It  is  interesting  to  know  from  old  Moravian 
diaries  that  Dr.  Franklin  enjoyed  the  good  music 
in  Bethlehem  as  early  as  1756,  and  that  General 
Washington,  on  the  evening  of  July  25,  1782, 
was  privileged  to  hear  music  on  the  organ  and  a 
serenade  by  the  redoubtable  trombone  choir,  and 
that  Mrs.  Washington,  on  her  way  to  Virginia, 
in  June,  1779,  attended  an  evening  service  in 
Bethlehem  and  enjoyed  the  music  of  choir 
and  orchestra. 

Another  afternoon  we  were  taken  through 
Fountain  Hill,  where  there  are  so  many  beauti- 
ful residences,  across  the  fine  Broad  Street 
Bridge,  and  through  a  part  of  Bethlehem  that 
has  grown  up  as  a  result  of  the  vast  industries 
of  the  last  two  or  three  years. 

We  are  enjoying  ourselves  so  much  that 
Sarah  and  I  could  be  happy  here  for  many  days ; 
but  Kathleen  is  anxious  to  get  back  to  Phila- 

328 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

delphia  by  Saturday.  She  is  expecting  letters— 
from  what  quarter  of  the  globe  she  does  not  say ; 
but  they  are  evidently  too  precious  to  be  re- 
mailed  to  her  here,  or  anywhere  else,  so  to-mor- 
row we  start  for  Chester,  going  by  way  of 
Allentown  and  Pottstown. 

And  so,  our  minds  fairly  saturated  with 
antiquities,  we  started  on  our  tour.  Pottstown 
appealed  to  us  on  account  of  its  interesting 
associations  as  well  as  for  the  beauty  of  the 
grounds  surrounding  the  Hill  School,  from 
which  there  is  a  fine  view  of  the  river;  but  we 
only  stopped  for  luncheon  as  we  hoped  to  reach 
Chester  before  night.  At  Pottstown  we  crossed  to 
the  right  bank  of  the  Schuylkill  and  came  down 
by  Phoenixville,  passing  the  great  Phoenix  Iron 
Works,  which  have  been  successfully  operated 
by  David  Beeves,  Sr.,  and  his  descendants  since 
1827,  and  near  by,  in  Phoenix  Park,  are 
their  delightful  homes,  whose  hospitality  we  had 
often  enjoyed.  Not  far  from  Phoenixville  are 
the  Knoll  and  Moore  Hall,  the  latter  a  famous 
place  in  its  day.  In  the  town  itself  are  some 
interesting  houses,  among  them  the  Fountain 
Inn,  which  was  at  one  time  the  headquarters  of 
General  Howe.  In  front  of  the  inn  is  a  marker 
on  which  is  this  record : 

"The  Farthest  Inland  Point  Beached  in  the 
British  Invasion  of  the  Northern  Colonies 
During  the  Bevolutionary  War,  September, 
21-23,  1777." 

329 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

"Not  far  away,"  says  Dr.  Fans,  uis  the  old 
General  Pike  Hotel,  built  in  1807,  and  directly 
across  the  road  is  the  Jones  Mansion,  built  by 

John  Longstreth. 

***** 

"Phoenixville  was  on  the  route  of  the  Under- 
ground Railway  on  which  so  many  slaves  found 
their  way  to  freedom  in  Canada.  There  were 
four  stations  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town, 
and  of  these  the  Jones  Mansion  was  one. 
Visitors  to  the  house  are  shown  a  wood  closet 
in  the  chimney  where  the  slaves  were  hidden 
during  the  day.  Once  a  father  and  mother  and 
their  baby  were  crowded  in  these  narrow  quar- 
ters when  the  searchers  came  to  the  house  after 
them.  The  baby  cried,  and  Mrs.  Jones  was  in 
agony.  But  the  hiding  place  was  not  dis- 
covered, and  that  night  the  slaves  were  sent  on 
their  way. ' ' 6 

Being  near  Valley  Forge  we  could  not  deny 
ourselves  the  pleasure  of  a  short  visit,  although 
we  had  all  been  here  many  times.  Our  first 
stop  was  at  the  Washington  Memorial  Chapel 
whose  fine  stained  glass  windows  always  remind 
me  of  the  exquisite  jeweled  glass  in  the  win- 
dows of  the  Sainte  Chapelle  in  Paris.  This 
same  beautiful  glass  has  been  used  in  the  east 
window,  placed  here  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Society  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  in 
honor  of  Martha  Washington,  and  in  recogni- 

8  "Old  Roads  out  of  Philadelphia,"  by  Dr.  John  T.  Faris. 
330 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

tion  of  her  noble  work  at  Valley  Forge  during 
the  severe  winter  of  1777-78.  The  motif  that 
runs  through  the  Scriptural  and  historic  scenes 
depicted  in  this  window  is  sacrifice  and  is 
intended  to  represent  the  sacrifices  made  by  this 
Colonial  woman,  who  left  her  comfortable  home 
to  share  with  her  husband  the  hardships  of  the 
winter  in  this  encampment  between  the  valley 
hills,  and  was  so  untiring  in  her  efforts  to  add 
to  the  comfort  of  the  soldiers  under  the  Gen- 
eral's command. 

From  the  beautiful  Chapel  we  made  our  way 
through  the  Park,  and  down  a  steep  hill  to  the 
little  stone  house  where  the  General  and  Mrs. 
Washington  spent  the  winter.  This  house  of 
Isaac  Potts  has  been  so  little  changed  in  the 
one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  years  since  the 
headquarters  were  established  here  that  Mrs. 
Washington's  description  might  almost  stand 
for  its  picture  to-day : 

In  a  letter,  written  to  Mrs.  Lund  Washington 
soon  after  her  arrival,  Mrs.  Washington  said: 
"The  apartment  for  business  is  only  about 
sixteen  feet  square  and  has  a  large  fireplace. 
The  house  is  built  of  stone.  The  walls  are  very 
thick  and  below  a  deep  east  window,  out  of 
which  the  General  can  look  out  upon  the  encamp- 
ment, he  had  a  box  made,  which  appears  as  a 
part  of  the  casement,  with  a  blind  trapdoor  at 
the  top,  in  which  he  keeps  his  valuable  papers." 

And  here  we  found  the  little  box  beneath  the 

331 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

east  window,  seventeen  inches  long  and  ten  and 
a  half  inches  deep,  divided  into  two  compart- 
ments. To  think  that  papers  upon  which,  to  a 
certain  extent  hung  the  fate  of  a  nation,  should 
have  been  stored  away  in  that  tiny  box  seemed 
no  less  wonderful  than  that  General  Washington 
and  his  officers  should  have  been  able  to  hold 
their  councils  of  war  in  this  little  room  only 
thirteen  feet  square,  even  smaller  than  Mrs. 
Washington  described  it  in  writing  home. 

The  log  cabin,  which  the  General  had  built 
to  serve  as  a  dining-room,  is  no  longer  standing. 
Here  he  dined  with  his  "military  family "  and 
any  visitors  who  came  to  Valley  Forge. 

Mrs.  Henry  Drinker,  who  visited  the  camp 
in  April,  spoke  of  an  elegant  dinner  being  served 
to  herself  and  her  companions,  Mrs.  Israel  Pem- 
berton,  Mrs.  Samuel  Pleasants  and  Mrs.  Owen 
Jones,  after  which  Mrs.  Washington  entertained 
the  visiting  ladies  in  her  own  room. 

These  Quaker  ladies  were  on  their  way  to 
Winchester,  Virginia,  to  which  place  their  non- 
combatant  husbands  had  been  sent,  on  the  ad- 
vance of  the  British  towards  Philadelphia. 

So  many  interesting  associations  belong  to 
this  old  stone  house  that  we  were  loth  to  leave 
it;  but  Sarah  consoled  herself  and  us  by  saying 
that  it  was  so  near  our  homes  that  we  could 
come  here  often. 

A  short  ride  brought  us  to  Malvern,  and  from 
there  we  found  a  good  road  to  West  Chester, 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

through  whose  beautifully  shaded  streets  we 
motored  on  to  the  King's  Highway,  one  of  the 
oldest  roads  in  Pennsylvania  over  which  His 
Majesty's  mail  was  carried  to  Wilmington  and 
Baltimore  in  Colonial  days.  We  noticed  a  num- 
ber of  fine  country  seats  in  and  around  West 
Chester,  and  one  that  attracted  us  especially 
was  an  old  Hickman  Homestead,  a  beautiful 
Colonial  house,  on  the  King's  Highway,  which 
is  shaded  here  by  great  maples.  Soon  after 
leaving  this  place  we  found  that  we  were  passing 
through  Media,  a  town  made  up  of  pretty  coun- 
try homes,  it  seemed  to  us,  and  even  more 
charming  is  its  suburb,  Moylan. 

Craddock  is  a  perfect  genius  for  finding 
roads  and  taking  us  by  interesting  places,  and 
we  were  not  surprised  when  he  announced  that 
we  were  now  on  the  Providence  Eoad  and  quite 
near  Lapidea,  the  home  of  Senator  Sproul.7 
We  stopped  to  see  this  fine  old  place,  which 
belonged  many  years  ago  to  Thomas  Leiper,  an 
able  and  enterprising  Scotchman  who  came  to 
America  some  years  before  the  ^Revolution. 
Leiper  made  money  and  used  it  and  his  own 
ability  for  the  benefit  of  his  adopted  country. 
He  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  in  what  was  then 
Chester  County,  which  is  said  to  have  formed 
a,  continuous  strip  from  the  site  of  the  present 

7  At  this  date,  July  1917,  The  Hon.  William  C.  Sproul  was 
still  State  Senator,  as  the  election  which  made  him  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  came  in  the  next  year. 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

Swarthmore  College  to  the  Delaware  Biver. 
The  house  looked  down  upon  the  ravine  of  the 
creek  and  over  into  a  wooded  landscape  on  the 
other  side.  It  was  here  that  Thomas  Leiper 
built  his  house,  in  1785,  on  Crum  Creek,  which 
he  named  Strathaven. 

This  house  is  still  standing  complete,  oppo- 
site the  quarry,  immediately  back  of  the  Lapidea 
grounds  and  is  occupied  by  Callender  Irvine 
Leiper,  a  grandson  of  the  first  Thomas  Leiper, 
who  was  born  in  1740. 

The  Senator  and  Mrs.  Sproul  were  away 
from  home  at  the  time  of  our  call ;  but  we  were 
hospitably  entertained  by  their  nephew  and 
niece.  This  young  couple  showed  us  their  own 
home  on  the  grounds,  a  very  picturesque  old 
building,  Lapidea  Cottage,  which  bears  the  date 
of  its  erection,  1737,  below  the  eaves,  in  the 
front  of  the  house.  Some  antiquarians  give  it 
an  earlier  date. 

We  were  told  that  Thomas  Leiper  had  built 
houses  for  his  four  sons.  Another  house  is  at 
Leiperville  on  the  Chester  Pike,  and  is  sur- 
rounded now  by  industrial  establishments  and 
workmen's  homes,  and  still  another  one  was  the 
old  house  which  stood  on  the  Lapidea  grounds 
for  many  years.  A  fine  doorway  from  this  house 
forms  a  side  entrance  to  Lapidea  Mansion.  The 
third  house  of  this  great  builder,  Leiper,  was 
erected  in  1818  for  his  son  James  Leiper,  who 
married  the  daughter  of  Pierce  Crosby,  a 

334 


LAPIDEA  COTTAGE,  BUILT  1727,  NOW  ON  ESTATE  OF  Gov.  WILLIAM  C.  SPROUL 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

wealthy  and  influential  man,  who  lived  in  the 
old  Crosby  House  at  ' '  Crosbyville, ' '  which  is 
now  on  24th  Street,  in  the  city  of  Chester.  This 
house  of  1818  now  forms  the  central  portion  of 
the  spacious  and  handsome  Lapidea  Mansion. 

In  walking  through  the  grounds  we  were 
attracted  by  the  clock  tower  with  its  old  bell, 
which  struck  an  hour  rather  alarming  to  us, 
as  we  wished  to  reach  Chester  before  nightfall. 
This  bell  it  seems  was  cast  at  Bristol,  Eng- 
land, in  1741,  and  for  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
years  was  the  only  church-bell  in  Chester.  The 
bell  hung  on  the  old  St.  Paul's  Church  and  its 
jangling  during  their  quiet  services  was  a  source 
of  much  annoyance  to  the  members  of  the  only 
other  religious  denomination  represented  in 
Chester  at  the  time,  the  Friends,  whose  meeting 
house  was  near  the  church.  They  adopted  some 
resolutions  protesting  against  it,  and  even  ven- 
tured the  assertion  that  *  *  their  bell-unsummoned 
feet  needed  no  direction  in  finding  their  place 
of  worship. " 

Still  laughing  over  this  delightfully  original 
protest,  we  turned  away  from  Lapidea  with  reluc- 
tance and  set  forth  for  Chester,  still  on  the 
Providence  Eoad,  which  Sarah  tells  us  is  some- 
times called  the  Leopard  Road  and  was  one  of 
the  first  highways  to  be  laid  out  in  Pennsylvania, 
adding:  "This  is  certainly  a  case  of  the  first 
being  last,  for  as  the  oldest  town  in  the  State, 
Chester  should  have  been  our  first  stopping- 

22  335 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

place  instead  of  being  left  for  the  last  lap  of  our 
journey.  I  am  really  ashamed  that  I  have  never 
stood  upon  the  spot  where  our  good  Proprietary 
landed,  when  I  have  been  to  Plymouth  more  than 
once  and  stood  upon  the  rock  where  Mary  Chil- 
ton  is  said  to  have  first  stepped. ' ' 

"This  must  be  the  place, "  said  Craddock, 
stopping  the  car  near  a,  boulder,  now  some 
distance  back  from  the  river,  which  proves  how 
much  the  shore  of  the  Delaware  has  changed,  as 
the  tablet  says  that  William  Penn  landed  on  this 
spot  on  the  29th  day  of  October,  1682. 

"It  was  upon  a  Sunday,  the  Friends'  first 
day,"  said  Sarah,  "and  then  according  to  the 
ancient  chronicle,  'with  hearts  full  of  gratitude, 
the  little  band  at  once  proceeded  to  the  house  of 
Robert  Wade,  where  the  religious  meetings  of 
the  Society  were  held,  and  gave  thanks  for  their 
safe  deliverance  from  sickness,  death,  the  perils 
of  the  deep,  and  the  persecutions  of  their  native 
land.'  It  is  all  so  interesting,  and  no  wonder 
that  these  people  were  thankful  to  land  after  a 
voyage  of  fifty-three  days !" 

"Yes,"  said  Kathleen,  trying  to  rise  to 
Sarah's  height  of  enthusiasm,  "I  wouldn't  have 
missed  coming  here  for  anything." 

"  Nor  would  I,"  and  then  remembering 
Smith's  caustic  account  of  the  naming  of  Ches- 
ter, I  repeated  it  as  well  as  I  could  recall  it. 
The  little  town  then  bore  the  Swedish  name  of 
Ooplandt  or  Upland : 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

"Without  reflection  Penn  determined  that 
the  name  of  this  place  should  be  changed.  Turn- 
ing around  to  his  friend  Pearson,  one  of  his  own 
Society,  who  had  accompanied  him  in  the  ship 
Welcome,  he  said,  'Providence  has  brought  us 
here  safe.  Thou  hast  been  the  companion  of  my 
perils.  What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  call  this 
place?'  Pearson  said,  ' Chester',  in  remem- 
brance of  the  city  from  whence  he  came.  William 
Penn  replied  that  it  should  be  called  Chester, 
and  that  when  he  divided  the  land  into  counties, 
one  of  them  should  be  called  by  the  same  name. 
Thus  from  a  mere  whim  the  name  of  the  oldest 
town ;  the  name  of  the  whole  settled  part  of  the 
Province;  the  name  that  would  naturally  have 
a  place  in  the  affections  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  new  Province,  was  effaced 
to  gratify  the  caprice  or  vanity  of  a  friend.  All 
great  men  occasionally  do  little  things."  8 

* '  Very  unjust,  "said  Sarah.  ' '  William  Penn 
never  did  anything  so  small,  and  Chester  is  a 
good  old  English  name  after  all,  and  this  town 
can  never  make  a  nobler  boast  than  that  within 
her  limits  was  first  proclaimed,  upon  the  soil  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  great  a  declaration  of  repub- 
lican liberty,  as  that  drawn  up  in  the  cabin  of 
the  Mayflower  in  1620. 

"Here  are  the  words,"  and  from  a  paper 
Sarah  read  standing  by  the  boulder: 

8 "History  of  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,"  by  Futhey 
and  Cope,  p.  21. 

337 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

"Whereas,  the  glory  of  God  Almighty,  and 
the  good  of  mankind,  are  the  reason  and  end  of 
government,  and  therefore  government  itself  is 
a  venerable  ordinance  of  God,  and  forasmuch  as 
it  is  principally  desired  and  intended  by  the 
proprietary,  and  governor  and  freemen  of  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  territories 
thereunto  belonging,  to  make  and  establish  such 
laws  as  shall  best  preserve  true  Christian  and 
civil  liberty,  in  opposition  to  all  unchristian, 
licentious  and  unjust  practices,  whereby  God 
may  have  his  due,  Caesar  his  due,  and  the  people 
their  due,  from  tyranny  and  oppression  on  the 
one  side,  and  insolency  and  licentiousness  on  the 
other;  so  that  the  best  and  firmest  foundation 
may  be  laid  for  the  present  and  future  happiness 
of  both  the  governor  and  the  people  of  this 
Province  and  territories,  and  their  posterity. " 

As  Kathleen  and  I  turned  from  the  boulder, 
while  Sarah  still  lingered  beside  it,  she  said: 
"Now  that  we  have  seen  the  wonderful  stone, 
why  can't  we  go  back  to  Philadelphia  to-night? " 

'  *  You  forget,  my  dear, ' >  I  said, ' '  that  we  have 
an  engagement  to  dine  and  stop  overnight  with 

the  C 's,  in  Upland,  and  then  Sarah  would  be 

heartbroken  if  we  should  leave  Chester  without 
seeing  the  Court  House  which  she  tells  us  is  the 
oldest  public  building  in  Pennsylvania.  Why  are 
you  so  anxious  to  go  to  Philadelphia  to-night  I" 

"I  am  expecting  a  cable,  Serina." 

338 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

"So  I  thought,  but  it  is  too  soon  to  have  a 
cable  from  Mr.  Henderson. " 

"How  did  you  know?" 

"How  could  I  help  knowing?"  I  said  with 
a  laugh. 

We  made  an  early  start  the  next  morning  as 
our  friends  wished  to  take  us  to  the  oldest  house 
in  Chester,  which  was  built  by  Caleb  Pusey  in 
1683.  In  this  little,  two-story  building  on  Race 
Street,  the  Proprietary  stopped  upon  the  oc- 
casion of  his  visits  to  Chester. 

The  old  colored  woman  who  has  made  her 
home  here  for  over  forty  years  seems  much  at- 
tached to  her  historic  environment,  and  was 
evidently  disturbed  by  the  contrast  which  we 
drew  between  this  humble  cottage  and  the 
English  mansions  which  William  Penn  fre- 
quented. She,  however,  solaced  herself  by 
giving  us  some  side  lights  upon  Pennsyl- 
vania history. 

"I  allus  liked  the  name,"  she  said,  "  'cause 
it's  the  husband  and  wife,  Penn  and  Sylvania, 
that  was  her  name." 

"Whose  name?"  we  asked. 

"Why,  Mrs.  Perm's  name,  a  gemmen  come 
here  and  told  me  all  about  it. " 

"But  Sylvania  was  not  her  name,  Mrs.  Wil- 
liam Penn's  name  was  Gulielma,"  and  while 
Sarah,  true  to  herself,  stopped  to  explain  the 
derivation  of  the  name  of  the  Province  of  Penn- 


IN  OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNS 

sylvania,  Kathleen  and  I  made  our  escape  in 
order  to  enjoy  a  laugh  outside.  Sarah's  only  re- 
ward for  her  pains  was  to  have  the  woman  say,as 
she  left  some  coins  in  her  hand,  "Yes'm,  every 
one  that  comes  along  tells  me  a  different  story. " 
As  we  motored  along  Fifth  Street  we  were 
interested  to  learn  that  here  in  Chester  we  were 
still  on  the  King's  Highway.  We  soon  after 
turned  into  Market  Street  and  saw  the  old  Court 
House,  which  has  been  restored  recently,  and 
with  so  much  care  that  it  is  a  perfect  reproduc- 
tion of  the  ancient  building  of  which  we  saw  a 
picture  in  the  Mayor's  office.  Everything  has 
been  done  with  the  greatest  care  and  after  a 
thorough  study  of  the  lines  of  the  Court  House 
of  1724,  and  so  the  restored  building  will  stand 
as  a  valuable  memorial  of  early  days  in  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania.9 

'The  author  must  plead  guilty  to  an  anachronism  here, 
as  the  Court  House  was  not  restored  until  1920,  and  by 
Governor  William  C.  Sproul.  In  speaking  of  it  the  Gover- 
nor said: 

"  I  have  just  finished  restoring  it  [the  Court  House] 
under  a  contract  with  the  city  that  it  shall  be  maintained 
as  a  public  building  forever.  I  have  always  had  great  fear 
that  it  would  be  torn  down,  and  its  valuable  site  sold  to 
provide  funds  for  the  erection  of  some  modern  city  building 
in  another  location.  It  is  really  very  quaint  and  beautiful, 
and  is  particularly  interesting  to  me,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  my  great-great-great-great-great-grandfather,  Nathaniel 
Newlin,  was  one  of  the  Commissioners  who  built  it  and  he  sat 
there  as  a  Justice  for  many  years.  When  it  was  erected, 
there  were  only  the  three  original  counties  in  Pennsylvania — 
Philadelphia,  Bucks  and  Chester — Chester  County  extended 
as  far  west  as  the  Province  was  settled.  It  served  for  sixty- 
two  years  as  the  Court  House  for  Chester  County  and  sixty- 
one  years  as  the  Court  House  for  Delaware  County  and 
sixty-eight  years  as  the  borough  and  City  Hall  of  Chester." 

340 


ALLENTOWN,  BETHLEHEM  AND  CHESTER 

In  the  course  of  his  work  on  the  Court  House, 
the  architect,  Mr.  Clarence  Wilson  Brazer,  has 
run  across  some  interesting  Chester  data.  It 
appears  that  Governor  Sproul  in  restoring  the 
old  building  is  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
ancestor,  Nathaniel  Newlin,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  Provincial  Assembly  for  Chester  County 
that  appropriated  the  money  for  building  the 
old  Court  House,  in  addition  to  being  one 
of  the  Commissioners  who  had  charge  of  the 
erection  of  the  original  building.  Other  mem- 
bers of  the  board  were  Eobert  Pyle  and 
Samuel  Hollingsworth. 

To  add  to  the  charm  of  this  part  of  Chester, 
across  a  green  courtyard  and  behind  the  old 
Court  House  a  new  City  Hall  has  been  erected 
which  is  on  the  same  lines  as  the  older  building, 
and  across  the  street  opposite  the  old  Court 
House  is  the  Washington  House,  where  General 
Washington  wrote  his  official  report  of  the  Battle 
of  the  Brandywine.  As  we  left  Chester,  and 
motored  through  Upland,  which  has  so  many 
beautiful  residences,  we  rejoiced  that  the  busy 
manufacturing  city  of  Chester  numbers  among 
her  citizens  those  who  value  her  many  ancient 
land  marks,  and  are  willing  to  spend  time  and 
money  for  their  preservation. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Henry,  cited,  189,  190 

Adams,  John,  23,  110,  317 

Agnew,  D.  Hayes,  M.D.,  96 

Aliquippa,  Queen,  220 

Allen,  Chf.  Jus.  Wm.  founds 
Allentown,  313-315 

Allen,  James,  of  Phila.,  in 
Allentown,  310,  315-317 

Allen,  Wm.,  professor  at  Dick- 
inson, 163 

Allentown,  48,  84,  310-319 

Allison,  Col.  John,  lays  out 
Greencastle,  133 

Allison,  James,  133 

Allison,  William,  settler,  132 

Altoona,  195,  196,  247 

Anderson,  Col.  Jas.,  209 

Anderson,  John,  of  Bedford, 
234 

Andr6,  Major  John,  in  Lan- 
caster, 51-53 

Armstrong,  Gen.  John,  150, 
151,  161,  231 

Arndt,  Henry,  92 

Asylum,  retreat  for  King  and 
Queen  of  France,  283,  284, 
290,  293-299 

Atlee,  Dr.  John  L.,  66 

Atlee,  William,  62 

Atlee,  Wm.  A.,  63 

Alexander,  John  W.,  16 


B 

Baird,  Mrs.  Samuel,  166 

Baird,  Spencer  F.,  162,  163, 
166 

Baker,  Conrad,  49 

Bakewell,  Benj.,  house  of,  202; 
letter  from  Lafayette,  202 

Barlow,  Joel,  77,  200 

Barlow,  Mrs.  Thos.,  enter- 
tains Lafayette,  199-201 

Barret,  Captain,  206 

Barton,  Dr.  B.  S.,  59 

Barton,  Rev.  Thos.,  59,  60,  62 

Barton,  William,  52,  60 

Bauseman,  Wm.,  62,  92 

Bayard,  Col.  Stephen,  208 

Beaver,  Gov.  James  A.,  250 

Beck,  James  M.,  88 

Beck,  John,  88 

Bedford,  230-241 

Bedford,  George  R..,  cited  269, 
270,  271,  280 

Bedford  Springs,  212;  guests, 
235,  240 

Beissel,  John  C.,  80,  83 

Bell,  Martin,  195 

Bellefonte,  12,  13,  20,  248-259 

Benezet,  Daniel,   92 

Bethlehem,  319-320;  Bach 
Choir  of  Bethlehem,  12, 
326-328;  Naming  of,  323; 
Christmas,  323-325;  Eas- 
ter, 322,  323 


343 


INDEX 


Biddle,  Edward  M.,  167  Burd,  James,  cited,  138,  139, 

Biddle,  Hon.  Edw.  W.,  5,  159,          314,  315 

cited,  151,  152,  160,  161  Burnham,    Valentine    House, 


Biddle,  Lydia   S.,    166 
Biddle,  William  M.,   166 
Biddies,  of  Montrose,  291 
Bigelow,  Edward  M.,  211 
Bingham,  William,  161 
Binney,  Horace,  263 
Birdsboro,  310 
Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  236 
Black,  Samuel,  236,  238 
Blaekman,  Emily,  291 
Bladen,  Gov.   Thos.,  41 
Blaine,  James  G.,  156,  218 
Blaine,  Col.  Ephraim,  156 
Blair,  Hon.  John,  243 
Blunston,  Samuel,  107,  108 
Boggs,  Andrew,  96,  253 
Boggs,  Jane    (Mrs.  Dunlop), 

253 

Boggs,  John,  M.D.,  133 
Bosler,  J.  Herman,  168 
Boskr,  J.  Kirk,  159 
Bouquet,    Col.,    54,    145,    205, 

206,  232 

Bowman,  Samuel,  Bishop,  64 
Braddock,    Gen.    Edward,    in 


254 
Burnside,    Judge,    236,     255, 

263 

Burr,  Aaron,  198 
Burrowes,  Thos.  H.,  60,  68 
Butler,  Col.  Zebulon,  271,  277, 

282 
Butler,  Major  John,  270-272 


Cadwalader,  Judge,  263 

Calhoun,  John,  M.D.,  124 

Cameron,  Hon.  Simon,  16,  174, 
188-190 

Cameron,  J.  Donald,  16,  95, 
96,  97,  188,  239 

Campbell,  Benj.,  202 

Cannon,  Colonel,  213 

Canonsburg,  212,  213 

Carbondale,  283,  284 

Carlisle,  143,  168;  settlement, 
146;  suffers  from  Indians, 
145;  social  life,  154,  162, 
164;  Dancing  Assembly, 
164-166 


Penna.,    220,    221;    defeat,       Carnegie,    Andrew,    163,    209, 


225-227;   monument,  228 
Brant,  Jos.,  297 
Brant,  Mollie,  297 
Broadhead,  Col.  D.,  207,  309 
Brown,  John,  Esq.,  of  Phila., 

158,  165 

Brown,  Hon.  I.  H.,  42 
Brownsville,  217,  218,  223 
Buchanan,  James,  13;  engage- 


210 

Carpenter,   Benj.,   278 
Catlin,  Geo.,  278-280 
Catlin,  Putnam,  278 
Cessna,  John,  137 
Chambers,        Benj.,        founds 

Chambersburg,  121,  122 
Chambers,  Charlotte,  in  Phila., 

1795,  126,  127 


ment  of,  64-66,  68,  99,  101,       Chambers,    Gen.    James,    126, 


187,  188,  23*,  238 
Bull,  Rev.  Win.,  34 


127 
Chambers,   Ruhamah,    124 


344 


INDEX 


Chambersburg,    20,    119-132; 

settlement,     121;     invaded, 

121;  social  life,  125,  126 
Chester  Court  House,  340,  341 
Chester,  naming  of,  337,  338 
Cheves,    Mrs.    Langdon,    101, 

102 

Cheves,  Hon.  Langdon,  101 
Clark,  Martha  B.,  5;  cited,  45 
Clarkson,  Jos.,  Rev.,  64 
Clinton,  Gov.  De  Witt,  279 
Cloud,  Joseph,  33 
Clymer,  D.,  309 
Coates,  Moses,  37,  38 
Coates,  Lindley,   109 
Coatesville,  37-39 
Coleman,  Anne,  64,  65 
Coleman,     Robt.,     house     at 

Elizabeth,     92 ;     entertains 

Gen.  Washington,  92;  owns 

most  of  Cornwall  ore  banks, 

94 

Coleman,  Sarah,  63-66 
Collett,  Jeremiah,  33 
Colonial   Dames  of  America, 

Penna.  Soc.,  106,  330 
Columbia,  99-109 
Conway,  Moncure  D.,  163 
Conyngham,  Redmond,  287 
Cookson,  Thos.,  Surveyor,  46, 

47,  63,  110;  in  Carlisle,  147 
Cope,     Caleb,     Andre     lodges 

with,  51-53 
Cope,  Clementine,  292 
Cornwall,  mines,  80 
Coxe,  Eckley  B.,  326 
Craig,  Isaac,  208 
Craighead,  Rev.  John,  131,  132 
Crawford,  Edward,  128 
Crawford,  Thos.  H.,  128 


Curtin,    Andrew    G.,    13,    16, 
180-182,  250,  252 


Dallas,  Trevanion  B.,  199 

Deland,  Margaret,  cited,  203, 

Denny,  Gov.,  231 

Derr,  Martin,  314 

De  Schweinitz,  Bishop  E.  A., 

321 
De  Schweinitz,  Bishop   Emil, 

321 
Dickinson   College,    143,    158- 

162 

Dickinson,  John,  159,  173 
Diffenderfer,  Michael,  92 
Dillon,  Mary  J.,  cited,  143,  167 
Dinwiddie,  Gov.,  219 
Dock,  Myra,  120 
Donegal,  95,  97 
Donnel,  Mrs.  C.  B.  of  Sunbury, 

261,  274 

Downing,  Thomas,  34 
Downingtown,  34,  35 
Drinker,  Dr.  Henry  S.,  327 
Dundaff,  283-287 
Dunlop,  Col.  Jas.,  249,  250 
Duquesne,  Fort,  231,  232 
Durell,  Gen.,  295 
Durkee,  Mrs.,  cited,  272,  296 
Dysart,  James  C.,  246 

£ 

Eachus,  Phineas,  34 

Early,  Gen.,  116 

Easton,  317 

Edge,  Gov.  W.  E.,  34 

Ege,  Peter,  144 

Eichholtz,    Jacob,   artist,    16, 

67,  68 
Elder,  Col.  Thos.,  174 


345 


INDEX 


Ephrata,    80-89 
Eshleman,  H.  F.,  98 
Eshleman,  J.  K.,  109 
Espy,  David,  234 
Ewell,  General,  116,  168 

F 

Fahnestocks,  85 

Falling    Spring    Church,    121, 

132 

Faris,  John  T.,  32,  330 
Fell,  Hon.  Jesse,  281 
Finley,  Judge,  197 
Fitch,    John,    invents    steam- 
boat,  69,   78,    79 
Fletcher,  Hon.  Henry  P.,  96, 

134 

Forbes,  Gen.,  204,  231,  232 
Fox,  Cyrus  T.,  310 
Francies,  John,  256-259 
Franklin,    Benj.,    15,    61;    in 
Carlisle,    147,    148;    Indian 
policy,    147-149;    227;     in 
Bethlehem,  328 
Franklin,  Hon.  Walter,  56 
Franklin,  Walter,  of  N.  Y.,  56 
Frontenac,  Count,  297 
Frontenac,      Margaret,       see 

Mme  Montour 

Fuller,    Hon.   Henry   M.,   263 

Fulton,  Robt.,  birthplace,  69, 

74,  76;  artist,  69,  77;  early 

inventions,    77-79;    invents 

submarines,  78,   79 


Gabriel,  Geo.,  265 
Gallatin,  Albert,  221,  222 
Geist,  J.  M.  W.,  71,  72 
Gettysburg,  112-118 
Gibbons,  Daniel,  108,  109 


Gibbons,  Hannah,  109 
Gibson,  Griffith,  249 
Gibson,   Hon.    John    B.,    154, 

155,    264 

Gibson,  Mrs.  John  B.,   156 
Gillespie,  Neal,  218 
Ginther,      Philip,      discovers 

coal,  300 

Girard,  Stephen,  304 
Gist,  Christopher,  219-220 
Godfrey,   Thomas,   79 
Gorham,  Francis  P.,  157 
Gowen,  Franklin  B.,  305,  306 
Graham,    Peter,   names   Dun- 

daff,  287,  288 
Grange,  The,  288 
Green,  Judge,  306 
Greencastle;       Massacre      in 

School,  132;    120,  132-135 
Greensburg,   196,   197 
Grouse  Hall,  316 
Grubb,  Curtis,  93,  94 
Grubb,  Henry  B.,  92-94 
Grubb,  John,  settler,  92 
Grubb,  Peter,  92-94 

H 

Halberstadt,   Baird,   5,  cited, 

301,   302 

Haldeman,  Jacob,  M.,  174 
Haldeman,   Mrs.   R   J.,    187, 

239 

Hall,  Wm.  McClay,  180 
Haly,  Mrs.  William,  175 
Hamilton,  Andrew,  44,  47 
Hamilton,  Gov.  James,  plans 
Lancaster,    44;     meets    In- 
dians in,  47;  gives  land  to 
church,  61,  62;  locates  Car- 
lisle, 146,  147 
Hancock,  John,  110,  322 


346 


INDEX 


Harrisburg,    12,    13,    168-190, 

233 
Harris'  Ferry,  137,  147,  171, 

230 

Harris,  James,  249 
Harris,    John,     settler,     137, 

170-174,  191 

Harris,  John,  Jr.,  173,  177 
Harrison,  Edward  T.,  241 
Hartley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Win., 

235 

Hastings,  Gov.  Daniel  H.,  250 
Henderson,  Judge,  156,  264 
Henry,  William,  inventor,  69 

78;  courtship,  69-71 
Henry,  Mrs.  Wm.,  Treas.   pf 

Lancaster,  70 
Hensel,  Hon.  W.  U.,  18,  cited, 

51,  99 
Hiltzheimer,  Jacob,  48,  cited, 

308,  309 

Himes,  Charles  F.,  164 
Hollenbaeh,  Matthias,  277 
Hollidaysburg,  241,  247 
Hornet,  Chas.,  295 
Homewood  Mansion,  197,  198 
Honey  Brook,  39 
Howe,  Gen.  William,  26,  329 
Huntingdon,  name  of,  194 
Huntingdon,     Serena,     Coun- 
tess, 194,  195 
Huston,  Dr.  Charles,  37 
Huston,   Mrs.   Charles,   recol- 
lections of,  38 


Irvine,   Gen.   Wm.,    150,    151, 
249 

J 

Jacobs,  Cyrus,  42 
Jacobs,  Samuel,  175 


Jefferson   College,  213,   214 
Jefferson,    Thomas,    23,    178, 
179;  subscribers  to  Dickin- 
son College,  162 
Jenkins,   John,   40,   41 
Jenkins,  Hon.  Eobt.,  41 
Jennings,  Edmund,  47 
Jessup,  Wm.,  291 
Joanna  Furnace,  309 
Johnson,  James,  286 
Johnson,  Sir  Wm.,  297 
Johnston,  Alex.,  Jr.,  199 
Johnston,  Henry  E.,  65,  100 
Johnston,  Mrs.  Henry  E.,  65, 

100 
Johnston,    Robert,   M.D.,    135 


Kates,  Clarence  S.,  33 
Kittera,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  W., 

77 

Kline,  George,  54 
Kossuth,  Gen.,  in  Penna.,  242, 

243-245 
Kuhns,  Oscar,  98 


Lacock,  John  K.,  cited,  225, 
229 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  in 
Bethlehem,  322;  in  Lancas- 
ter, 43;  in  Western  Penna., 
198;  entertained  in  Pitts- 
burgh, 199-202 

Lake,  Simon,  78 

Lamon,  Ward  H.,  183,  184 

Lancaster,  plan  of,  44;  In- 
dian Chiefs  met  in,  45-47; 
Continental  Congress  in,  50 ; 
Capital  of  Penna.,  50; 
President  Lincoln  in,  71- 
73 


347 


INDEX 


Landis,  Judge  C.  I.,  43,  53 

Landis,  J.  H.,  98 

Lane  Harriet,  see  Mrs.  H.  E. 
Johnston. 

Lapidea      Mansion,      333-335 

La  Porte,  Bartholomew,  294 

La  Porte,  Judge,  295 

Lardner,  Lynford,  41,  317, 
318 

Lebanon,  89,  93 

Lee,  Gen.  Henry,  27,  28 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.,  116,  117 

Lee,  Col.  Thos.,  47 

Leiper,  C.  I.,  334 

Leiper,  Thomas,  333,  334 

Levering,  Bishop,  J.  M.,  cited, 
321,  322 

Libraries,  first  in  Penna.,  61 

Lincoln,  Abraham*  in  Lan- 
caster, 71,  73;  in  Harris- 
burg,  73,  180-184;  journey 
to  Washington,  183,  184; 
at  Gettysburg,  117,  118 

Lincoln,  Mrs.  A.,  181,  185, 
187 

Lind,  Jenny,  singer,  245,  246 

Linn,  John  B.,  18,  251 

Linn,  Rev.  James,  250 

Lititz,  69,  80,  85-89 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  cited, 
190,  227 

Logan,  Deborah,  105 

Logan,  James,  105,  106,  196 

Logan,  John,  Indian,  195,  196 

Longacre,  Mrs.  J.  M.,  cited, 
90 

Longstreth,  John,  330 

Lovell,  D.  H.,  241 

Ludlow,  Israel,  127 

Lukens,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Charles, 
37 


Luzerne,   Cffisar,  Anne  de  la, 

278 

Lyons,  Jerre  L.,  292 
Lyons,  John  P.,  5 
Lyons,  Lorenzo,  292 

M 

Maclay,    Senator    Wm.,    177- 

178,  180 

Madison,  Dolly,  279 
Manheim,  89-92 
Mann,   Mrs.  Jane,  255,  256 
Marshall,   Chief  Justice,   233 
Marietta,   191 
Marshall,  Christopher,  48,  50, 

54 

Mason,  John,  262,  263 
Matlock,  Timothy,  50 
McClintock,   John,   D.D.,    163 
McClure,    Col.    A.    K.,    cited, 

128,    180,    182,   243 
McCormick,  Searight,  223 
McFarland,  Judge,  243 
McKinley,   David,    96 
McKinley,  Wm.,  Pres.,  96 
McLanahan,  J.  K.,  242 
McClellan,  John,  M.D.,  134 
McClellan,  Hon.  Robert,  134 
McLelland,  Wm.,  125,  134 
McLelland,  Mrs.   Wm.,  story 

of,  125 

McParlan,   Jas.,    305,   306 
McPherson,  John,  22 
McVeagh,  Mrs.  Wayne,  187 
Meade,  Gen.  Geo.  G.,  117 
Meginness,  J.  P.,  273-275 
Meredith,  Gen.  Samuel,  First 

Treas.  of  U.  S.,  288,  289 
Meredith,  Wm.  M.,  99 
Michael,   Eberhardt,   53 
Mifflin,  Gen.  Thomas,  58,  309 


348 


INDEX 


Mifflin,  Lloyd,  cited,   102 
Miller,  Gen.  Henry,  150 
Mollie  Pitcher,  151-154 
Montgomery,  Col.  John,  161 
Montgomery,  Rich.  Gen.,  51 
Montgomery,  Dr.  T.  L.,   5 
Montour,    Mme.,    297 
Montrose,    named   after   Rose 

family,  283;   284,  289-293 
Moore,  Johnston,  Esq.,  159 
Morgan,  Col.  Robert,  150 
Morgan,  Gen.  George,  198,  234 
Morganza,    198 
Morris,  Robert,  16,  173,  177 
Moskesson,  287 
Muhlenburg,  Rev.  Wm.  A.,  65, 

66 

Mulford,  Rev.  Elisha,  291 
Mulford,  Mr.   and  Mrs.   Syl- 

vanus,  291,  292 

N 

Nesbit,   James,   278 
Nevin,     Alfred,    D.D.,     cited, 

122,  123,   145,  146 
Nevin,  Blanche,  41 
Nevin,  Mrs.  John,  41 
Newlin,     Nathaniel,     Member 

of  Assembly,  341 
Nicklin,  Philip,  263 
Nisbet,  Charles,  D.D.,  155, 

160,   161 

Norris,  Isaac,  147 
North,  Hugh  M.,  99 


Oakley,  Violet,  176 
O'Hara,  Gen.  Jas.,   199,  208, 
Orme,  Robert,  cited,  225,  226 
Ormsby,  Captain  John,  diary 
of,  204-207 


Page,     Benjamin,     house    of, 

199,   200 

Page,  Martha  H.,  200 
Page,    Oliver    Ormsby,    cited, 

199-202 

Paoli,  Paschal,  30 
Parker,  Alexander,  198 
Parker,  Emmeline  K.,  5,  165 
Parker  House,  143,  158,  159 
Parker,    Isaac    B.,    158,    159, 

165,   166 

Parker,  John  B.,  158 
Parkman,  Francis,  225 
Patton,  Benj.,  249 
Paxton,   boys,    55 
Paxton,  James  D.,  119 
Pearsons,   The,    170,    189 
Pemberton,   Mrs.  Henry,   ST., 

181,  187 

Penn,  Gov.  John,  23,  83,  232 
Penn,  Richard,  90,  232 
Penn,  Thomas,  61,  90,  232 
Penn,    William,    15,    41,    44; 

lands  at  Upland,  336-339 
Pendergrass,  Garrett,  230 
Pennock,  Isaac,  37 
Penrose,  Mrs.  Chas.  B.,  166 
Perkins,  Mrs.  Geo.  A.,  cited, 

272,  295-297 

Pershing,    Gen.    John,    ances- 
try, 96 

Pershing,  Judge,  306 
Phelps,  Mrs.  J.  C.,  273 
Phipps,  Henry,  210 
Phoenixville,  330 
Pickering,  Timothy,  277,  278 
Pinkerton,  Alan,  305 
Piolett,  J.  M.,  295 


349 


INDEX 


Pittsburgh,  20-23 

Pleasant  Mount,  288 

Pleasant,  Henry,  Jr.,  27 

Pomeroy,  Nevin  Mrs.,  125 

Potter,  James,  250 

Potts,  Isaac,  house  of,  331 

Pottstown,  329 

Pottsville,  coal  discovered  in 

300-306 
Prolix,      Peregrine,       ( Philip 

Nicklin),     cited,     20,     191, 

192,    239 
Pusey,  Caleb,  house  of   1683, 

339 


Quarryville,  69,  74,  75 
Queen    Esther,    267,    272-277 
284-298 


Rau,  Albert  G.,  327 

Ray,  Robert,  230 

Raystown,  see  Bedford 

Reading,  307-310;  Lincoln 
homestead  near,  310 

Reeves,  David,  Sr.,  329 

Reigart,  E.  C.,  of  Lancaster, 
57 

Riddle,  John  S.,  200 

Rinker,  Abraham,  315 

Ritner,  Governor,  68 

Rittenhouse,  David,  astrono- 
mer, 17,  59,  70 

Roberts,  Chas.  R.,  cited,  314, 
315 

Robinson,  Gen.  Wm.,  198,  199 

Robinson,  Mrs.  M.  W.,  cited, 
90 

Rockview,  prison  arm,  256- 
259 


Rocky    Spring    Church,    130- 

132 

Roosevelt,   Theodore,  in  Lan- 
caster, 71 

Rose,  Mrs.  William,  142 
Ross,  Gen.  Wm.,  278 
Ross,  George,  Signer,  62 
Ross,   James,   Jr.,    199 
Rothrock,  Dr.  J.   S.,   120 
Rupp,  I,  Daniel,  cited,  84 
Rush,  Benj.,  M.D.,  160-161 

S 

Sabbath   Rest  Furnace,    195 
Sachse,  Julius  F.,  32 
Schell,  Hon.  Wm.  P.,  230 
Schwab,  Chas.  W.,  327 
Schwab,    Peter,    314 
Schenl-ey,  Mrs.  Mary  E.,  208, 

210 
Schomberg,       Emily       (Mrs. 

Hughes  Hallitt),  23,  24 
Scott,  Col.  Thos.  A.,  183,  185, 

209 

Scranton,  283,  284 
Scull,    Nicholas,    in    Carlisle, 

147 

Searight,Ewing,   223,    224 
Searight,  Thos.  B.,  224 
Searight,   William,   223 
Seward,  Wm.  H.,  186,  188 
Sherman,  John,  Senator,  190 
Shikellamy,  Chief,   195,  260 
Shippen,  Edward,  1st,  136 
Shippen,  Edw.,  of  Lancaster, 
house  of,  54,  56,   133; 
lays    out    Shippensburg, 

138,    140 

Shippen,  Joseph,  56,  57 
Shippensburg,  138,  142 
Shoemaker,  Col.  Geo.,  304 


360 


INDEX 


Shoemaker,   H.   W.,   5,  cited, 

195,  196 
Slaymaker,  63 
Slocum,  Frances,  capture  of, 

273-275 

Slocum,  J.,  273,  275 
Slough,  Mathias,  53,  55 
Smith,  James,  signer,  112 
Smith,  Col.  L.  Heber,  309,  310 
Snyder,  Gov.  Simon,  67,  265 
Snyder,  Plymouth,  242,  243 
Spencer,   Howard,  Esq.,   288 
Sproul,    Gov.    Wm.    C.,   owns 

Lapidea,  334,  335;  restores 

Court-House,  340 
Steinman,  Andrew  J.,  88 
Steinman,  Christian  A.,  88 
Steinman,  George  M.,  88 
Stephenson,  James,  96 
Stevens,  Thaddeus,  60,  68,  119 
St.  James  Church,  Lancaster, 

59,   62-65 
Stewart,  Alex.,  M.D.,  settler, 

140 
Stewart,     Alex.,     M.D.,     140 

141 

Stewart,  George  H.,  141 
Stewart,    Harriet   W.,    cited, 

140 

Stewart,  Hon.  John,  5,  141 
Stiegel,  Baron,  89-92 
Stockton,    Rev.    Joseph,    200, 

204 
Stout,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Geo.  C., 

28 

Sullivan,  Gen.,  276 
Sumner,  Col.  E.  V.,  181,   185 
Sunbury,  260,  267 
Swift,    Joseph,    owns    Fulton 

House,  75,  76 


Tener,  John,  Gov.,  257 
Thomas,  Gov.  Geo.,  45-75 
Thompson,  Gen.  Wm.,  150,  151 
Thomson,  Alexander,  128 
Thomson,  Frank,  128 
Thomson,  Wm.,  M.D.,  127 
Tilghman,  Chief  Justice,  199, 

263 

Torrance,   Francis  J.,  256 
Townsend,  John  W.,  26 
Trevelyan,  Sir  George,  144 
Trexler,  Gen.  H.   C.,  5,   312, 

317 

Trexler,  Hon.  Frank  M.,  312 
Trexler,  Hon.  Peter,  48,  312 
Trexler,  Peter,  settler,  312 
Trial  of  Mollie  Maguires,  306 
Tripp,  Isaac,  273 
Trout  Hall,  313,  316 

U 

Uniontown,  222-225 


Valentine,  houses,  254 
Valentine,  Reuben  Bond,  254 
Valley  Forge,  Mrs.  Washing- 
ton at,  330-332 
window  in  honor  of,  330 
Veazey,  Maria  Ross,   158 
Vernon,  Admiral,   32 
Vernon,  Robert,  33 

W 

Wade,  Robert,  336 
Waldo,  F.  L.,  cited,  328 
Walker,  Judge,  306 
Wallace  Mansion,  197,  198 
Walters,  Raymond,  cited,  327 


351 


INDEX 


Warfield,  Daniel  J.,  238 
Warren,  Gen.  Joseph,  32 
Washington,  Gen.,  23,  25,  26; 

in  Bedford,  139,  233-236 

in  Bethlehem,  328;  in  Ship- 

pensburg,      139,      140;      in 

Western   Penna.,   218,   224, 

with     Braddock,     225-228; 

at    Valley   Forge,   27,    331, 

332 
Washington,     Mrs.     Geo.     in! 

Phila.,  126,  127;   at  Valley 

Forge,  330,  332 
Washington,  Penna.,  212-217 
Washington,  Reade,  M.,  128 
Watts,  Mrs.  and  Mrs.  David, 

156 

Watts,  heuse,  156,  157 
Watts,  Juliana,  167 
Watts,  William,  142 
Wayne,  Gen.  Anthony,  house 

of,  29;  at  Paoli,  32;  death, 

29-32 

Wayne,   Isaac,  29 
Wayne,  Gen.  William,  29 
Wetherill,  Samuel,  304 
Wharton,  Thos.,  Gov.,  49-50, 

58,  59,  263 
Wheatland,  13,  73 
Whiskey  Insurrection,  233 
Wickersham,   J.   P.,    18 
Wilbur,  W.  A.,  327 


Wilkes-BarrS,  12,  20,  260-282 
Wilkins,  Hon.  William,   197- 

199,  264 

Williams,  Margaret,  recollec- 
tions of  Pres.  Lincoln,  180- 

188 
Williams,    Hon.    Thos.,     180, 

186 

Wilson  College,  128 
Wilson,   Henry  R.,  Rev.,  250 
Wilson,  James,  Signer,  155 
Wilson,  Major,  W.  B.,  180 
Wilson,  Sarah,  college  named 

for,  128,  129 
Wister,  Caspar,  312 
Witmer,  David,  43 
Woerner,   Wm.   F.,   cited,   63, 

65,  66 

Wolle,  Dr.  J.  F.,  327 
Woods,  John,   197 
Woodward,  Mrs.  Stanley,  277 
Wright,  John,   104,   108 
Wright,  Susannah,  105,  108 
Wright,  William,  108 
Wrights'  Ferry,  104,  108,  110, 

111 
Wurtz,   John,   284 


Zinzendorf,  Count  Nicholas 
L.,  in  Lancaster  Co.,  86,  87 ; 
in  Bethlehem,  323,  327 


V    , 


0449 
YC  28450 


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BERKELEY 

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